Emergency care
Moorfields A&E Attend Anywhere (online) service is for existing Moorfields patients and those who live locally to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London who have a potentially life or sight threatening problem. It includes A&E online with children’s specialists during the week.
Please note that this platform is for the assessment acute emergencies. The service is not for general advice on minor conditions or to discuss use of medications or upcoming appointments. You will not be admitted to speak to a clinician online if you do not have a genuine eye care emergency.
Please use NHS 111 online for minor eye problems or contact your GP or optician. Moorfields patients can also use our nurse-led line on 0207 566 2345, 8am-9pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5pm on Saturdays.
Your clinician is not able to advise on or expedite any outpatient appointment which have been cancelled or delayed. All appointment queries should be directed to: email/phone: moorfields.outpatientbookingsbc@nhs.net or call 0207 566 2357, and please let us know your hospital or NHS number. Given the high call volume, emails are the easiest and fastest way to make contact. Please include full name and date of birth (and hospital number if known).
How our video consultations work
Watch our short video, which explains how our video consultations work, and the benefits to patients.
Terms of using the service
Please read the following before you log on to use the service, as this will help us and you save time in getting the correct care.
- If you are under the care of another eye hospital, you must contact them for advice first. If you live closer to another eye unit, we will redirect you there.
- Even if you have been advised to call us by your GP or 111, you may not be seen if you do not fulfil the above criteria and your condition is not an emergency.
- If you are non NHS eligible or live outside the UK, we are unable to help you.
- Attend Anywhere is not an examination. It's a chance for you to speak to a Moorfields clinician to discuss whether you need to attend eye casualty.
- Please inform the doctor if you are unwell, or have had any contact with anyone with Corona-virus, and this will help them direct you to the safest service.
- This is not an emergency service. If you are in danger and require urgent help, dial 999.
Please note, this service does not replace a full ophthalmic examination. Instead, it is aimed to help the doctor decide the safest action for you. Some patients may be asked to come to hospital for a further examination, whilst others can be managed locally.
Respect for our staff during online consultations
Patients using our online A&E service are expected to be presented appropriately. If our staff feel uncomfortable at any point during the online consultation, they will end the call. Please remember to be respectful at all times.
Waiting times
We attempt to answer all calls within 30 minutes. At busy times and at weekends the wait can be up to two hours. Please bear with us, we will get to you as soon as we can. If you need general advice, you can also try our nurse-led line on 0207 566 2345, 9am-5pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5pm on Saturdays.
How to attend the emergency care video consultation triage:
- Moorfields patients and those living in central London who require emergency eye care (sight threatening problems or eye injuries) can use our A&E Attend Anywhere service during the time below.
Monday to Friday:
- 9am - 9pm
- 9am - 9pm
These video consultations will allow us to assess your condition and provide advice on whether or not you need to come into our A&E department for further checks. More information, including helpful FAQs, can be found on the Emergency care page. If you require urgent medical advice out of these hours, you can contact our A&E department on 020 7253 3411.
- Click the 'City Road - A&E Virtual Registration' link below.
- You will be taken through a series of steps to ensure that your equipment is set up properly.
- Enter name, date of birth and phone number when prompted. You will be asked to accept the terms and conditions of using the service*.
- A member of reception staff will register you before admitting you into the waiting room.
- Once in the waiting room, you will see yourself on the video and hear music. The waiting room is private and you will not see other patients.
- When the consultation is ready to begin, your image will shrink and move to the corner of the screen and you will see your clinician.
City Road - A&E Virtual Registration
Please note this service is NOT available between 12pm and 1.30pm.
*This information is not stored beyond the length of the video consultation.
Further information:
For more information please download our Video Consultation Patient Information leaflet (PDF).
Attend Anywhere is the technology we use for our confidential video consultations.
Video consultations enable you to have your appointment via a completely secure video environment from the comfort of your own home.
You can connect using a PC, Mac or an iOS / Android device via a web browser. It is advised that you use the latest version of Google Chrome or Safari web browsers for this service.
FAQs
Preparing for your appointment
What will happen during my virtual appointment?
When you ring us, we will check your connection and you will go through into an online waiting room. We will take some details from you, and you will then be placed in a queue to see our specialist.
What if I’m left in the online waiting room?
You should be able to see your position in the queue, and the queue should be steadily getting shorter. While we do everything we can to keep all our clinics to time, it is not unusual to have to wait a few minutes for your appointment and, occasionally, for 30 minutes or more. If you think you are having technical issues, please call 020 7566 2357 and select option 4.
What if I am having technical troubles?
If you are having technical difficulties, please call 020 7566 2357 and select option 4, or download our 'Troubleshooting video calls' leaflet (PDF)
I don't have a device that has a camera and microphone; can I still have a video consultation?
Unfortunately not; to hold an effective video consultation our clinicians will need to both see and hear you, therefore your device must have a camera and a microphone. Please press ‘Ok’ for all camera and microphone access pop ups.
Concerns about your eye health
I am concerned about my eyesight, who do I contact?
If you are worried about your eye health, contact our nurses on 0207 566 2345. They can provide with you advice on the best course of action. The line is open Mon-Fri between 08:30 and 21:00 and on Saturdays between 09:00 and 17:00.
If you have sudden sight loss or an eye injury and are already a Moorfields patient or live close to our City Road hospital, please contact us through this video A&E; it may save you a journey.
Anyone else with sudden sight loss or an eye injury should contact their local A&E.
Should I use video A&E or travel in to A&E?
If you need emergency eye care today, for sudden sight loss or eye injury, our online A&E service is running. In most cases, our doctors will either save you a visit to City Road or save you time when you get to us. If it is clearly an emergency, ring 999 immediately. Our A&E at City Road remains open 24 hours, seven days a week, as usual.
Use of your clinical data
Your clinical data is helping us develop an intelligent assistant for frontline healthcare professionals.
We are developing a tool to help frontline healthcare professionals such as nurses make accurate and safe triage decisions to deal with many of the most common eye problems. This tool will shorten your waiting times, speed up your time to treatment, and free up staff to treat patients more efficiently.
To develop this tool, we will use the standard non-identifiable clinical data collected during your A&E visit to teach an Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer to think like an experienced eye doctor, and mimic their recommended actions. Data scientists developing the artificial intelligence will use information on eye conditions ,e.g. signs and symptoms, as well as the recommended tests and the final diagnosis defined by the doctors. The data scientists will not have access to your personally identifiable information, such as name, address or date of birth.
You can read more about this in the attached leaflet, linked to below: