Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to decrease waiting times for people requiring cataract surgery.

All patients in England have a right to start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions. This right is enshrined in the NHS Constitution.

Some patients will, however, wait longer than 18 weeks, for example, patients who choose to wait longer for personal and/or social reasons, where this is clinically appropriate and/or where patients fail to attend appointments they have agreed.

Timeliness of diagnosis and treatment is what patients expect and remains essential to providing high quality care. Maintaining low waiting times is an absolute priority for this Government.