Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to ensure that people with long-term eye conditions are seen within timeframes which prevent avoidable sight-loss.

Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning ophthalmic services in hospitals for their local populations. Patients have the right to start consultant led treatment within 18 weeks of referral for non-urgent conditions, or alternatively have the right to ask for an alternative provider who can see them sooner. All patients should be treated without unnecessary delay and according to their clinical priority.

All follow-up appointments should take place when clinically appropriate. It is for doctors to make decisions on when they see patients, in line with their clinical priority, and patients should not experience undue delay at any stage of their referral, diagnosis or treatment. The appropriate interval for follow up appointments will vary between different services or specialties, and between individual patients, depending on the severity of their condition.

To ensure that patients are seen at the appropriate time, NHS England has issued guidance which makes clear that when patients on planned lists are clinically ready for their care to commence and reach the date for their planned appointment, they should either receive that appointment or be transferred to an active waiting list.