Melbourne Eyecare Clinic (MEC, formally UMeyecare)
It will come as no surprise to all the primary care practitioners that the last few months have created ups and downs in operations in the new Eyecare clinic at 200 Berkeley Street.
The clinical space is fantastic. The combined input from the group of the architects, University project group and my fellow staff, have been able to take what was a large rectangular space and turn it into a functional, welcoming and adaptable clinical teaching facility.
Sadly, we cannot invite you in to have a look, but we do have a virtual tour you can go on. Go to the website for open day https://study.unimelb.edu.au/your-experience/virtual-tour. Navigate to the health tab by skipping the videos and then choose the Eyecare clinic.
You can then take a tour similar to using StreetView in GoogleMaps. Except for one day, the clinic has been operating all through the pandemic as the University has seen us as an essential service. We have also been able to have students onsite for most of the year. Patients have been very appreciative of our willingness to provide emergency eyecare during these trying times. Students have also been able to take part in a variety of telehealth consultations within the clinic.
As a consequence of the pandemic, the clinic patient numbers have been down compared to previous years. With the Lockdown rules easing we are extending the clinical teaching year till early December to give our final year students as wide a clinical experience as possible. We look forward to next year where we can consolidate our new facility in providing care, teaching and clinical research in better times.