Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to allow patient transport services that enable people to attend ophthalmology appointments to resume.

On 27 March the National Health Service released guidance to reflect changes in patient transport services (PTS) during the COVID-19 response. As a result, PTS was redeployed to support critical services and ensure transport was available for those who needed it most.

As hospital services are reintroduced, PTS should be available to support patients to attend their appointments, including ophthalmology patients. We are in the process of replacing the earlier guidance to reflect that the eligibility criteria that was temporarily withdrawn can now be reinstated.