Glaucoma Awareness

Helen Morgan Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) for securing this important debate and raising awareness of a life-changing condition following Glaucoma Awareness Week.

The hon. Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) outlined his personal experience, and particularly how regular checks are important as the condition is symptomless in its early stages. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for sharing his dad’s experience. And the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) brought her NHS expertise to the debate, so I feel slightly underqualified to be completely honest. Ironically, given that we are talking about eyesight, I did not print my speech in a larger font, so please bear with me.

Millions of people across the country are affected by sight loss, and hundreds of thousands of people have glaucoma. If untreated, glaucoma can have a profoundly detrimental effect on people’s quality of life and long-term health, yet one in every 10 people on an NHS waiting list is waiting for their first ophthalmology appointment. Ophthalmology waiting lists grew longer and longer under the previous Conservative Government, who oversaw a doubling of waiting times in England alone. Meanwhile, more than half a million people are waiting for follow-up appointments. As our population continues to age, demand is likely only to increase.

As with so many conditions, early intervention is key. One elderly patient in my constituency was sent for an urgent referral following a routine eye test. He was warned that if he was not seen in the next few weeks, he was at risk of losing sight in the affected eye. The appointment came through in time, only for it to be cancelled, along with the replacement appointment. By the time he was able to see a specialist, it was too late and he lost sight in that eye. This entirely avoidable incident demonstrates how it is crucial that we address the chronic shortage of ophthalmologists to deliver the care that people deserve.

A starting point would be to deal with the broken training system. Far too few specialist training spaces are offered, despite many graduates being keen to work in the field. A little over a decade ago, there were four and a half applicants per training place, and it has surged to 10 applicants per place. It is simply not good enough.

How will the Government deliver the ophthalmology workforce we need? In particular, will they look to reduce the extraordinary shortage of training places in this and other specialties? Will they consider publishing waiting list data for follow-up care? Transparency on waiting lists for follow-up appointments, not just for initial referrals, would help patients to make informed choices about the care they need and would illustrate the postcode lottery in NHS eye care.

Liberal Democrats know that fixing the front door of our NHS is crucial to achieving better outcomes on glaucoma and all conditions that impact sight. That means sorting out primary care and community services, so I am pleased to see that the Government agreed with that aim in the 10-year plan published last week. Fixing primary care means investing in local GP surgeries and giving everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, or 24 hours if they are in urgent need, and providing 8,000 more GPs to deliver that. It means ensuring that everyone over 70 and everyone with a long-term condition has access to a named GP.

As the hon. Member for Leicester South reminded me in our Opposition day debate on primary care in the autumn, optometry is a critical part of primary care and needs to be delivered locally. For glaucoma specifically, that means investing in eye services in the community and empowering the training of trusted, qualified optometrists to manage the condition. Optometrists are already in place to manage glaucoma across Wales and Scotland, so we have a strong base of evidence to inform that work. Research suggests that the additional training required is rewarding for optometrists, for the ophthalmologists training them and, more importantly, for the patients they are treating.

However, in England, glaucoma services vary drastically, depending on which integrated care board area people live in. With major organisational changes to the ICB structure under way, this could be an opportunity to standardise a better, more consistent, community-focused approach. Could the Minister set out how the Government will encourage true partnership between qualified optometrists and ophthalmologists, delivering care in the community wherever possible? What hurdles stand in the way of such an arrangement?

Finally, we need to ensure the highest possible uptake of regular eye tests so that we can catch this condition early and prevent damage to people’s sight. As somebody who has a close relative with glaucoma, I have my eyes tested regularly. It is not too unpleasant, and it gives me the reassurance I need that I am not currently developing the condition. The number of sight tests, including domiciliary visits, has still not recovered since the pandemic.

Given the scale of the challenges of ensuring that people are tested, of treating them when glaucoma is found and of training sufficient staff in a context of surging demand, the Government should produce a dedicated eye health strategy, as advocated by groups such as the Thomas Pocklington Trust. There clearly needs to be substantial work across the sector to strengthen eye care as part of primary care and better incorporate optometrists, to repair a broken training arrangement and to ensure that people get the eye tests they need.