Following the retirement of long-serving ophthalmologist Dr David Offerman in 2025, Rural Health West has supported the continuation of ophthalmology services through the RHOF to ensure the Esperance and Katanning communities continue to have access to specialist eye care close to home.
For more than two decades, Dr Offerman travelled from Albany to provide outreach ophthalmology to Esperance and Katanning which enabled patients to be bulk billed. When Dr Offerman announced his retirement, Rural Health West worked with local stakeholders to ensure the services were continued through an alternative provider, Outreach Eye Services.
The new providers service complements existing local and visiting eye health services and remains an important referral pathway, offering continuity of care and access to specialist services and equipment not otherwise available in Esperance and Katanning.
The transfer of services has resulted in Esperance and Katanning patients continuing to receive timely, evidence-based ophthalmology care without having to travel away from home, a fitting continuation of the legacy Dr Offerman built over more than 20 years of service to the region.