The World Association of Eye Hospitals is a world wide network of eye hospitals. All member-hospitals are focused on delivering the best and most safe ophthalmic care. They share all kinds of information and knowledge in a very open and transparant way, via projects, but also via teleconferences, personal meetings and conferences.

Examples of projects of the WAEH:

• Management of AMD Patients
• Innovative uses of technology to improve patient experience in the delivery of eye care
• Global teaching program for glaucoma departments
• Operating Theatre Staff and Competencies
• Medical outcomes: making it possible to compare medical outcomes in a user friendly way between leading eye hospitals in the world
• Redefine the patient flow of Glaucoma patients
• Medical Outcomes
• Development of an international procedure of applying eye drops

During the annual meetings members have the opportunity to get connected to each other and exchange information and knowledge about all kinds of topics, like improving the efficiency in the service given to patients and continuous development of patient pathways. Since the establishment of the WAEH in 2007 in Rotterdam, we had the opportunity to visit eyehospitals in Rotterdam and Leuven (2007), Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur (2008), Sweden, Finland and Estonia (2009), Melbourne and Jakarta (2010), London and Leuven (2011), Seoul and Bangkok (2012), Mexico (2013), India and Dubai (2014). Singapore (2015), Rotterdam (2016), China (2017), USA (2018), London (2019). In 2020 and 2021 we met online. In 2022 the meeting was hosted by the Wilmer Eye Institute Johns Hopkins. October 2023 we went to The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, the Sydney Eye Hospital from Sydney and the Chatswood Private Hospital from Sydney, Australia! You can find the meeting reports online, for an example please follow the link.

Criteria to become a member

Admittance criteria, full members

• Specialised as an eye hospital or eye department (mandatory)
• Perform > 5000 surgical procedures (excluding injections) (mandatory)
• Expertise in at least 5 of the following subspecialties: cornea, glaucoma, cataract, retina, paediatric, neuro, oculoplastics and/or uveitis (mandatory)
• Doing research (not just clinical) and publish about it (mandatory)
• Be accredited by a national or international quality system in 2014 (mandatory)
• Be one of the leading eye hospitals in it’s own country (mandatory).
• Ophthalmology residency program
• Perform community services
• Offer primary care
• Offer emergency services

Obligations of full members

• Payment of fee: 4000 euro (per 1 January 2023)
• All members are obliged to:
  • Exchange information and data between members, g.e. BSC and medical outcome data
  • Be an active member by g.e. participating at least in one of the projects of the WAEH a year.
  • Attend the annual meeting
  • Participate in the Community of Practice for Nurses and Human Resources

Service package full member

• Full members can attend the global meeting with 2 attendants without a delegate fee.
• Full members are members of the member meeting with the right to vote on budget, yearly plan, fee scheme, appointment of board members, yearly accounts and yearly activity report of the board.
• Full members can become a board member when elected.
• Full members can attend the extra topic meeting with 2 attendants without a delegate fee. 
• Full members can use the full membership logo of the WAEH.
• Full members have full access to the knowledge hub of the WAEH with project information, meeting presentations, white papers, etc. 
• Full members have full access to the WAEH Online Community.
• Full members can participate in the WAEH projects.
• Full members have access to the WAEH Global Whats App Group.

Admittance criteria, associate members

• Specialising as an eye hospital or eye department
• Membership decided on a case to case-basis, decided by the board
• When in time the associate member full fills the criteria of full membership, the associate member has to become a full member

Obligations of associate members

• Payment of fee 2000 euro (per 1 January 2023)
• Use the logo according to the rules of the WAEH.

Service package associate members

• Associate members can attend the global meeting with 1 attendant without a delegate fee.
• Associate members can attend the extra topic meeting with 1 attendant without a delegate fee. 
• Associate members can use the associate logo of the WAEH.
• Associate members can attend the member meeting.
• Associate members have full access to the knowledge hub of the WAEH with project information, meeting presentations, white papers, etc. 
• Associate members have full access to the WAEH Online Community.
• Associate members can participate in the WAEH projects.
• Associate members have access to the WAEH Global Whats App Group.

Want to become a member? Please fill in the application form

Procedure:

• Please send the membership application to the Global lead of the WAEH: Maaike van Zuilen, maaike.vanzuilen@waeh.org
• The Global Lead will send the application to all board members
• One of the board members will review the application and give a recommendation during the board meeting
• Members can join the association any time during the year
• Fee has to be paid for the whole year – depended when becoming a member, the member will receive a first invoice for membership in Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4