Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of ophthalmology waiting times on patient outcomes.

No formal assessment has been made. Since April 2020, NHS England has required all commissioners to agree service development and improvement plans for ophthalmology with providers. This includes the implementation of the recommendations made by the Health Safety Investigation Branch.

NHS England has published practical guides, pathways and tools to support local teams to increase service productivity through the Getting It Right First Time and the National Eye Care Recovery Programmes. NHS England has also appointed a National Clinical Director for Eyecare and is developing a national eyecare transformation programme to work with eye care stakeholders.