Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2016 to Question 41185, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that hospital-initiated postponement or cancellation of ophthalmology follow-up appointments do not result in sight loss.

As stated in the answer given to Question 41185, 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.