“I’m the Operations Coordinator, which means that I schedule appointments for all the urgent patients and also help with capacity issues when we have an influx of patients.

I’ve worked at UHS since 1997 and was in the Maxillo-facial department for 14 years, before moving to the Patient Service Centre for four years, and then Ophthalmology for the last five years.

I’ve seen the hospital evolve hugely. There are corridors I used to walk along which are now wards and departments, and the centre of the hospital used to be a garden. Every time you walk around, there’s somewhere new – and UHS seems to be constantly growing and growing.

Although there may have been a lot of changes to the buildings since I started, it is still all about the patients and their care.

In Ophthalmology, our patients are getting older and their long term eye problems become more complex meaning that we see them more frequently. This obviously impacts on the numbers of clinics and staffing levels within the department.

Even within the last six years, we can do so much more for patients. Eyesight is saved on a daily basis, whereas even just a few years ago, patients were losing their sight and even their eyes. The technology we use has really progressed, and the things that doctors can now do to save someone’s sight is phenomenal.