Why Petersfield patients come to Portsmouth
Petersfield does not have a specialist eye unit, so eyelid and tear duct problems have to travel somewhere. The A3 runs south to Portsmouth and north towards Guildford, and for most of the corridor the southern run is both quicker and lands you at a bigger oculoplastic service.
Queen Alexandra Hospital is around 25 minutes from Petersfield, and because it sits on the northern edge of the city just off the A27, there is no city centre driving involved. From Horndean, Clanfield or Rowlands Castle it is closer to 15 minutes. Private consultations and surgery are also available at Medicana Winchester.
The unit itself is the largest oculoplastic service in the region, with three consultant surgeons and over a thousand new referrals a year. We run the only joint periocular oncology multidisciplinary team meeting in the region, putting Mohs surgeons, oculoplastic surgeons and maxillofacial surgeons in the same room for eyelid cancers, and the only joint lacrimal clinic. The endoscopic lacrimal service is the highest volume nearby, with weekly operating lists that I lead.
What I treat
- Upper eyelid surgery and lower eyelid surgery for hooded lids and under eye bags
- Ptosis correction for a drooping upper eyelid
- Entropion and ectropion repair
- Watery eye assessment and scarless endoscopic tear duct surgery
- Thyroid eye disease and orbital decompression
- Eyelid skin cancer excision and reconstruction
- Eyelid lumps and cysts
Getting here from Petersfield
Straight down the A3 to the junction with the A27, then a short run west to Cosham. Queen Alexandra Hospital is at PO6 3LY with a multi-storey car park on site and accessible bays at the main entrances.
By train, Petersfield to Portsmouth is direct, and Cosham is on the same line with a short bus or taxi at the other end. If you are having surgery with sedation you will need someone to take you home.
What the NHS funds here
Petersfield sits in NHS Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the same commissioner as Portsmouth, and Policy 52 applies in full: no published threshold for surgery on a drooping lid or on excess upper-lid skin, and criteria-based routes for eyelid lumps and lid malposition. There is an exception inside this board, and Petersfield is not in it. The towns that kept the old, more permissive Frimley criteria are in the north east of the county: Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet, Yateley and Hartley Wintney, some fifty miles from here. If you have read that part of Hampshire funds eyelid surgery on published criteria, that is true, and it is not this part. See is eyelid surgery funded on the NHS?
Arranging an appointment
Private appointments are arranged through my secretary, Gina Stacey. A referral letter from your GP or optometrist is helpful but not essential if you are paying for yourself. Insured patients will need a referral and a pre-authorisation code. I am recognised by Aviva, Allianz, Alliance Healthcare, Bupa and Vitality.
For NHS care, ask your GP or optometrist to refer you to the eye department at Queen Alexandra Hospital.