Impact report highlights outcomes of Moorfields Eye Charity programmes

An architectural impression of the Oriel eye health centre exterior. Rendering courtesy Moorfields Eye Charity.

In a newly-released impact report, Moorfields Eye Charity highlighted 6 years’ worth of accomplishments in the eye care and research space. The UK-based charity issued a press release¹ in conjunction with the report² to emphasise the most significant figures. Key figures from the report reflected the charity’s stated goals for the years to come.

From 2018 to 2024, Moorfields Eye Charity has awarded 342 grants. The focal points of this year’s grants are gene therapy, inherited eye disease and myopia.¹ The charity has also invested in specific areas of innovation, with £1,348,205 going to innovations in patient experience and £1,917,904 to clinical trials in the 6-year assessment period. Additionally, the report contains up-to-date figures on eye health research facility Oriel. The eye health campus received a £5 million development award earlier this year³ and hosted a public exhibition in March, showing external and internal designs to patients, staff, donors and members of the public. The Oriel centre in St Pancras, Camden, is expected to open in 2027.

Furthermore, the impact report outlines a set of objectives that Moorfields Eye Charity aims to achieve concurrently with the completion and opening of the Oriel campus. Those five objectives² are:

• To create a world-class integrated centre for advancing eye health, teaching and research in 2027
• To be the leading charity for research into eye health
• To support innovation in patient care, enhancing the patient experience
• To support sharing of knowledge and development of people’s expertise
• To shape national policy to increase resources allocated to eye health

Alongside the impact report, Moorfields Eye Hospital announced a leadership change for the eye charity effective this July. Dr Louise Wood CBE will assume the position of chair of trustees at Moorfields Eye Charity. In the press release, leaders at Moorfields Eye Charity thanked the prior chair, Mervyn Walker. During Walker’s tenure, Moorfields Eye Charity in partnership with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology raised £72.75 million for the Oriel campus.

“Moorfields is really grateful for Mervyn’s leadership and guidance not only to Moorfields Eye Charity, but to the trust itself,” said Laura Wade-Gery, chair at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.¹ “His guidance has been crucial to supporting our organisations in the process of funding and moving to our new centre for eye care, research and education in St Pancras. We thank him for everything he’s done, and look forward to working with Louise.”

To read the full report, visit: https://moorfieldseyecharity.org.uk/about-us/impact-reports

References

1. Moorfields Eye Charity’s six-year growth and impact. Moorfields Eye Charity. Press release. Published 9 July, 2024. Accessed 11 July, 2024.

2. Impact Report 2024. Moorfields Eye Charity. Published 9 July, 2024. Accessed 11 July, 2024. https://moorfieldseyecharity.org.uk/about-us/impact-reports

3. Hayes, H. UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital receive £5 million toward eye health research facility Oriel. Ophthalmology Times Europe. Published 6 February, 2024. Accessed 11 July, 2024. https://europe.ophthalmologytimes.com/view/ucl-and-moorfields-eye-hospital-receive-5-million-toward-eye-health-research-facility-oriel