80% of patients pay for eye care
By Olive Carterton
Patients are being ‘forced’ to go private or risk permanent sight loss – and the situation is getting worse, according to eye experts.
© Optegra
Over three-quarters (79%) of optometrists have patients experiencing significant delays of 12 months or more for their NHS secondary care referrals, follow-up appointments or treatments.
This marks a rise from 72% at the same point last year and almost a fifth of optometrists (19%) now have at least 20 patients facing this situation.
The figures come from the Association of Optometrist (AOP), whose survey examined the experiences of more than 1,000 high street optometrists across the UK.
Its findings show 81% have patients who have been forced to pay for private treatment within the last six months due to long NHS waiting lists or potentially risk permanent sight loss.
Currently, 640,736 people are waiting for NHS ophthalmology appointments in England alone – an increase of more than 12,000 since the AOP released figures in March 2023. Almost 20,000 have been waiting more than a year.
The association says the Government must commit to a national approach to eye health services to ensure patients can access care quickly close to home.
Many essential appointments currently happen in hospital, but waiting times for follow-ups and treatment could be significantly reduced if care provided by optometrists was commissioned consistently, it believes.
AOP chief executive Adam Sampson has written to the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health, Dame Andrea Leadsom, asking for urgent action.
He said: ‘We’re now in a desperate situation. Patients are being forced to spend their savings on private treatment to avoid losing their sight – not to mention the many where paying for private care is simply not an option.’
Many optometrists working in the community already successfully provide follow-up services in some parts of the UK.
At Sight Opticians in Peterlee, County Durham, all routine referrals are triaged with their local hospital and any extra tests needed, such as internal images of the eye or visual fields assessments, are carried out before the secondary care appointment.
Optometrist at the practice Adam Smith says: ‘We have a long-established extended service and have seen the huge impact it can have. It reduces both unnecessary referrals to hospital when certain care and tests can be carried out in a local practice. Patients are saved the wait while also getting more appropriate care faster.’
Marsha de Cordova, Labour MP for Battersea and chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Vision Impairment, said: ‘England is the only country in the UK without an eye health strategy. Despite the worrying backlog, the Government still refuses to introduce a strategy that will ensure better health outcomes for patients.
‘A national approach will remove the postcode lottery of care and reduce the risk of patients getting stuck on hospital waiting lists and in turn prevent the avoidable and irreversible sight loss we’re seeing today.’