What is an emergency?
The type of conditions we see in an emergency include:
- penetrating eye injuries, such as from hammering or from sharp plants
- chemical injuries to the eye
- Foreign body in the eye, ear, nose or throat
- injuries to the surface of the eye, like a scratch
- blunt trauma to the eye, ear or nose such as from playing sport.
- sudden loss of vision or hearing
- infections in the eye, ear, nose or throat
- new visual symptoms, like blurred vision or flashing lights and floaters in the vision
- bleeding nose.
The Emergency Department sees a large number of patients every day. Patients are seen in an order based on clinical urgency, so if you present with less urgent or less acute problems you may experience a longer wait. If you are not sure if you need urgent care, it is preferable that you see your GP or local optometrist first, they can advise if you need to be seen urgently or whether you can be referred to one of our outpatient clinics.
