Access to UPMC Kildare Expands with New Shuttle Service

25 November 2020 – For ophthalmology patients, transportation is vital to their overall eye health. If they do not have a family member to take them to and from appointments, visual impairments and public transit limitations may prevent them from accessing the healthcare necessary to maintain or improve their sight.

To ensure all patients receive ophthalmology care, UPMC Kildare Hospital in Clane, a partner of the Institute of Eye Surgery (IOES), now offers flexible van service to transport patients to and from the hospital.

Patients in need of transportation can arrange for the shuttle to pick them up at their home, referring GP or optometrist, or a local public transit station. The van will take them to UPMC Kildare and at the conclusion of their appointment, drop them back to their pick up location.

“At UPMC, we strive to provide our communities with the highest quality healthcare, but we realise that some cannot access the specialists they need due to limitations outside their control,” said David Beirne, managing director of UPMC in Ireland. “This shuttle service allows us to meet patients where they are, providing a safe and reliable way to visit the UPMC and IOES providers they depend on.”

Patients can contact IOES in UPMC Kildare at 045-230420 to make transportation arrangements.

Since acquiring UPMC Kildare in November 2019, UPMC and IOES have been working together to establish a national Ophthalmology Network of Excellence, thus eliminating the need for patients having to travel for advanced eye care. UPMC Kildare is also expanding its services, including orthopaedics, cardiology, sports medicine, urology, and endoscopy.

IOES, Ireland’s largest ophthalmology service, provides a full range of services at the hospital, including cataract removal, treatment of age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and vitreoretinal surgeries. As the only ophthalmology clinic in Ireland with an embedded clinical trials team, IOES is a fitting partner for UPMC, a leading academic medical centre affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, which ranks fifth in National Institutes of Health research funding.

Under the leadership of José-Alain Sahel, MD, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Pitt’s School of Medicine and director of the UPMC Eye Center, UPMC Kildare is connected to cutting-edge vision research and clinical trials in Pittsburgh and Paris. A world-renowned expert in efforts to prevent and cure blindness, Sahel also helped to develop the UPMC Vision and Rehabilitation Tower in Pittsburgh, which will serve patients from around the world with eye diseases and vision impairment.