Our ophthalmologists and orthoptist
Our team comprises of three permanent ophthalmologists, a permanent orthoptist and a team of friendly support staff who are dedicated to providing eye care on the North West Coast of Tasmania. Our patients also benefit from visiting sub-specialists who provide services not normally available on the North West Coast.
Our ophthalmologists provide the community with accessible specialist eye care, operating out of the North West Private and Public Hospitals, Mersey Community Hospital and the newly purpose-built Devonport Eye Hospital. All our doctors provide on call support for state-wide and local emergency rosters.
Michael Haybittel MBBCh MMed FCS FRANZCO FRACS
Special skills: cataract surgery, anterior segment disease, strabismus and ocular plastics.
Dr Haybittel was a General Practitioner for five years before specialising as an Ophthalmologist in South Africa. Dr Haybittel has been on the North West Coast of Tasmania since 1995 and did the Australian Opthalmology fellowship exam in 1996. He works in Devonport and Burnie. Dr Haybittel teaches doctors, medical students and optometrists on a regular basis.
Dr Haybittel also provides a three monthly service to King Island and annually volunteers to work and teach in Samoa, where there is no resident ophthalmologist and blindness due to cataracts is endemic and commonplace.
Andrew TraillMBBS (Hons) B Med Sci FRANZCO
Special skills: medical and surgical diseases of the retina, macula and vitreous, small incision vitrectomy and general eye surgery.
Dr Traill completed his MBBS at the University of Tasmania. He studied ophthalmology at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and was awarded the James McBride White Medal for retinal research. He went on to complete a surgical and medical retinal fellowship at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in the UK. Dr Traill now works and teaches on the coast two days a week.
Robert McKay MBBS (Hons), MPH FRANZCO
Special skills: diabetic retinopathy, medical conditions of the retina, age related macular degeneration and cataract surgery.
After medical training Dr McKay completed a Masters’ degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. He then undertook Ophthalmology training for a number of years. He was Director of the Ophthalmology unit at the Royal Darwin Hospital for five years where he provided a flying service to Aboriginal communities across the “Top End”. Dr McKay then spent five years in Papua New Guinea as clinical lead for the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand. Dr McKay maintains his involvement in PNG. Dr McKay lives in Forth and has been working full time with North West Eye Surgeons since 2013.
Julie Barbour, Orthoptist
Julie has been working with North West Eye Surgeons in Devonport and Burnie for the past 20 years.
An orthoptist is an eye health professional who works with Ophthalmologists providing complex eye care, diagnosing and treating vision disorders in children and adults. Julie completed her orthoptic training at the Lincoln Institute, School of Health Sciences in Melbourne, Victoria. Her special interests are children and adults with strabismus (turned eye), binocular vision and eye movement disorders.