Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Workforce Plan, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of ophthalmologists in the NHS.

The Government recognises that there are workforce capacity challenges facing ophthalmology services, which is why we increased training places in 2022, with further places planned for 2023. This sits alongside action being taken to train existing ophthalmology staff, so they are able to work to the top of their clinical license.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by over £2.4 billion to fund additional education and training places over the next five years, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. This is a high-level plan to support the NHS workforce as a whole, covering doctors, nurses, and other key health professions. Therefore, it focuses on NHS-delivered services, such as primary care, community pharmacy and dentistry. While ophthalmologists are not explicitly covered in the plan, it does set out how the primary eye care workforce could deliver more eye care services in the community to help build capacity.