Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor availability of provision in catract surgery after funding of the National Ophthalmology Database ceases.

The Health Care Quality Improvement Partnership through the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme runs audits funded by NHS England for a range of clinical areas. Central funding is usually time limited and the National Ophthalmology Database Audit (NODA) was no exception. It should be noted less than 50% of ophthalmologist submitted their data.

This Audit was commissioned for an initial three years of funding. This was then extended by two further years in 2017. Central funding is time limited to ensure a range of areas benefit over time. However, this does not mean an audit which is valued by a sector has to cease. Many audits move from central to other funding arrangements led by the sector.

An audit provides an additional focus on improvement that those taking part benefit from, but all ophthalmology services continue to be subject to the same general standards whether or not they are taking part in the Audit programme. The intention of an audit is to look in a focussed way at outcomes and for the NODA this covered cataract surgery. The findings from the audit are available to surgeons and patients with the aim of driving continuous improvement. Participation in an audit, however, is not compulsory for trusts or individual surgeons and participation rates vary. Standards of individual clinical care continue to be the responsibility of the surgeon involved and, if appropriate, the relevant professional body.