The University of Western Australia (UWA) has expanded its hub and spoke eye care model with the establishment of a new comprehensive eye health centre in Bunbury, in collaboration with the South West Aboriginal Medical Service (SWAMS), the Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF), and the University Department of Rural Health South West (UDRH SW) at Edith Cowan University.
Officially launched on 27 November, the Bunbury clinic emerged in response to direct requests from the community who had heard about the success of UWA’s first rural eye clinic that was established in collaboration with the Geraldton Region Aboriginal Medical Service (GRAMS), explained Neilsen De Souza, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia.
“Our first integrated optometry clinic in in Geraldton has had a transformative impact on the mid-west region. Following the success of this clinic, SWAMS expressed a strong interest in providing eye care services for the South West Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community,” Mr De Souza told mivision.
Integrating eye care into Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) is crucial for improving eye health and vision care, and a strategy for closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. ACCHOs provide holistic, culturally safe, and appropriate primary care. They improve access to spectacles, facilitate better management of conditions like diabetic retinopathy, and establish referral pathways for further care.
Senator Louise Pratt with SWAMS team members at the Bunbury eye clinic.
Within the hub and spoke eye care model, eye health centres (hubs) are led by local ACCHOs with an onsite academic clinician at each hub jointly employed by UWA and the region’s UDRH SW. With support from UDRH SW, UWA Optometry students develop their clinical skills and cultural competency during their final year placements.
While addressing eye health inequities, the centres also provide rich rural and remote clinical and cultural experiences for the University’s optometry students.
Fully Integrated with Best Available Equipment
The Bunbury initiative, representing nearly half a million dollars in investment, is the result of a collaboration based on shared values, contributing the respective strengths of each organisation to provide ongoing clinical care, and sustainability, while fulfilling unmet community need and delivering social impact.
The Fred Hollows Foundation has been an integral supporter of both GRAMS and SWAMS clinics, providing vital funding, expertise, and comprehensive support. With the support of ZEISS, the clinic has been equipped with state-of-the-art technology including the ZEISS SL800 with slit lamp imaging, the ZEISS Cirrus 6000 with AngioPlex, the Clarus 500 which provides high resolution, true colour, broad line technology fundus photography, and the Humphrey Field Analyzer 3 (HFA3) for visual field analysis.
Rebecca Pott, ZEISS Marketing Manager, said the company was “delighted to collaborate with UWA and SWAMS” to equip the Bunbury clinic.
“A special focus for ZEISS in ophthalmic care is chronic disease management, with ZEISS in Australia and New Zealand having a proud history of supporting initiatives in Indigenous eye care, including the IDEAS (Indigenous Diabetes Assessment Screening) Van in 2019,” Ms Pott said.
“The ZEISS suite of equipment is designed to assist in the quick capture of data for patient comfort as well as to connect and integrate this data via a digital workflow that assists in chronic eye disease analysis and patient education from a centralised software display called ZEISS Forum.”
She continued, “The ZEISS Forum includes intuitive workplaces for glaucoma and retinal pathologies designed to display progression of visual field data, OCT (optical coherence topography) scans, and fundus photography in one integrated screen.”
The suite of technology enables learning and teaching opportunities, as well as remote consultations and specialist referrals, ensuring regional patients receive metropolitan-standard care. From an equity perspective, Mr De Souza observed that “it is a wonderful aspiration to have the best available equipment within Aboriginal Medical Services, which enables not only high-quality healthcare delivery but also allows for innovative models of care, such as telemedicine consultations, enhancing access, and improving health outcomes for the community”.
Additionally, he said the equipment enables the clinic to be integrated within the existing healthcare framework, which means “GPs and all the other health professionals are actively interacting with optometry; our students are working as part of a health care team, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations that deepen their understanding of the broad health infrastructure. This holistic approach not only enhances their clinical skills but also prepares them to work effectively in diverse healthcare settings, ensuring comprehensive patient care”.
Education and Training
The clinic serves as a vital training ground for optometry students, who complete four blocks of six-week placements during their final year, rotating through community optometry practices, local ophthalmology clinics, and outreach services to smaller towns.
Mr De Souza said the impact in Bunbury has been immediately evident. “The second person to attend the clinic (on launch day) was referred by the SWAMS GP. The patient had severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy that would have resulted in blindness had he not been seen for another few weeks. The opportunity to detect, diagnose and refer on conditions, that would have otherwise gone undetected, is incredible both for patient outcomes and student experience.
“Within SWAMS, and in conjunction with a multidisciplinary team, our optometrists and students can actively contribute to managing the overall health and wellbeing of patients.”
Beyond clinical skills, students are also offered invaluable insights into cultural competency and healthcare delivery in diverse communities.
“By accompanying Aboriginal liaison officers on patient visits, students gain first-hand experience of the complexities surrounding healthcare access,” he observed.
Senator Louise Pratt, Senator for Western Australia, who recently visited the Optometry clinic at SWAMS commended the project. “It was wonderful to visit Southwest Aboriginal Medical Services and their Bunbury Clinic and see investment in such a comprehensive suite of eye care services, backed up with the latest technology. I commend the way ACCHOs like SWAMS are collaborating with the tertiary education sector, including with optometry, inside UWA’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, to address disparity in eye health outcomes.”
Mr De Souza hopes to see more eye clinics established in collaboration with AMS across Australia
Future Expansion
With Geraldton and Bunbury clinics now fully operational, UWA has already been approached to establish two additional ACCHOs, one in collaboration with Moorditj Koort, a community controlled, not-for-profit organisation that supports the health and wellness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in WA. The other, is in collaboration with Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service, that services Aboriginal people living in the Perth Metropolitan area.
Looking ahead, Mr De Souza hopes to see more eye clinics established in collaboration with AMS across Australia.
“There’s such a tremendous need for these services in communities right across Australia,” Mr De Souza said. “By partnering with universities, healthcare providers and funding bodies, ACCHOs can deliver essential eye care services, create role models within communities, and provide valuable clinical experience for students.”
