The Ophthalmology Macular Service has opened a new modular unit on the Musgrave Park Hospital site. 

The unit, delivered by Modex and Kier Construction, has two injection rooms and an OCT retinal scanner.

Stewart McGimpsey, consultant ophthalmic surgeon, said: “The lack of facilities in the Mater Hospital has caused a lot of stress and anxiety for our patients so we are delighted to be able to introduce a new modular building on the Musgrave Park site to increase our capacity.

“This unit introduces two new injection suites and an imaging suite which means we will be able to expand capacity and hopefully give more injections and more treatment in a more-timely manner to our patients.”

Raymond Curran, director of ophthalmic services at Belfast Health and Social Care Board, added: “The capacity of the macular unit has been a challenge for some years, and COVID hasn’t helped, so this is an opportunity to both address the COVID challenges, but also to expand capacity so that patients get access to time-critical treatments.”