Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) advice he has received on and (b) assessment he has made of the effect of restrictions resulting from the covid-19 outbreak on clinical outcomes for people in need of regular hospital treatment for eye conditions; and what steps he is taking to restart regular hospital ophthalmology treatment.

Whilst routine hospital treatments were suspended to provide capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, we are now working closely with the National Health Service and other partners to restart these in a safe way. Guidance has been issued to local NHS providers and commissioning trusts on the restart of non-COVID-19 services, starting with the most clinically urgent cases and ensuring this is done safely with appropriate infection control.

The treatment of patients, including ophthalmology, will be based on clinical judgement, with patient and staff safety as the highest priority.

The Government is also providing an additional £3 billion to the NHS, which includes funding for continued access to the independent sector to carry out routine treatments and procedures as well as provide additional capacity for COVID-19 patients if needed.