Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to cut ophthalmology waiting lists in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) England.

Too many people are waiting too long for National Health Service treatment, with their personal and professional lives being put on hold. The current national waiting list for ophthalmology stands at 589,508, with 66.8% of those having waited 18 weeks or less. We have committed to ensuring that 92% of all patients, across specialties, wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029. As a first step, we have delivered a reduction in the waiting list of 160,000 pathways and provided over two million extra appointments, across all specialities, including ophthalmology.

We are tackling waits nationally and in Lincolnshire. The Elective Reform Plan sets out actions to reform outpatient care which will significantly benefit ophthalmology, the largest outpatient specialty, with over 8.8 million outpatient attendances across 2023/24. We will improve the referral, triage, and management of patients between primary and secondary eyecare services to free up hospital appointments for those requiring specialist input. This includes delivering more care in the community.

At the main hospital trust in Lincolnshire, the current wait in ophthalmology for a first appointment is 18 weeks, with the wait to first treatment at 19 weeks. This can be found on the national My Planned Care Portal, which is available at the following link:

https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk/mids/united-lincs/specialty/?sname=Ophthalmology