Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of workforce capacity in ophthalmology.

The ophthalmology consultant workforce employed in the National Health Service has grown consistently in recent years, averaging 4.3% per year over the period March 2012 to March 2017.

NHS Digital Workforce Statistics for September 2017 show that the full time equivalent number of ophthalmologists in training in England is 797.

Education and training provision for healthcare systems in the NHS in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is a matter for each of the devolved administrations.