The arrival of a new instrument to examine the eye at Avon Medical Centre means that more patients are able to be diagnosed and treated locally.



'We have already had several people we haven't had to send on to New Plymouth for treatment," says Dr Bill Cartledge, a general practitioner at the centre talking about the arrival this month of a slit lamp.



The lamp enables the GP to look at a patient's eye in far greater detail, magnifying it by over 16 times, letting the GP see tiny details at the front and the back of the eye.