The Acute Eye Service (AES) provides care to patients with eye emergencies and urgent eye problems. Patients from throughout New Zealand may also be referred to us for urgent care.
The AES is staffed by an experienced team of eye doctors, nurses and optometrists, led by an ophthalmologist (specialist eye doctor) who provides support and consultation to the team.
Our clinicians work as hard as they can to see you quickly but this may be delayed due to the assessment of complex patients, or patients who require urgent treatment. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
When it is your turn to be seen, we will call you.
Once the reception staff have registered you, you will be called by one of the triage nurses within 60 minutes.
You will be seen in order of urgency, not necessarily in order of arrival. However, we aim to have you through the department within four hours wherever possible.
During busy times there could be a 4-8 hour wait for less urgent conditions. We are only able to give a rough estimate of wait times, as this can change dramatically at any time, depending on the urgency of patients that come in.
If you need to leave the waiting room temporarily for refreshments or other commitments, please let our reception staff or one of the triage nurses know so they can make a note to your file.
