A £1 MILLION scheme which will see 500 ophthalmology patients sent to the UK for cataract treatment is due to begin in March in a bid to drive down waiting lists.
The 12-month project was announced in November after it emerged that patients were having to wait around two years for an initial assessment – despite several attempts to bring down ophthalmology wait times.
The most recent data – published ahead of the Health and Community Services Advisory Board meeting last month – showed that there were almost 1,200 patients on the ophthalmology waiting list.
Of these, 375 had been on the list for between six months and one year, and 243 had waited over a year for a first appointment.
The board papers also reveal that the ophthalmology department “continues to have additional theatre sessions and agreed overruns” to tackle waiting lists.
As part of the external scheme, ten patients per week will travel to the UK for their surgery.
The Health Department has allocated £989,980 to the project and the supplier is expected to treat 500 patients over the course of one year, starting on 21 March.
The board papers explain that “once take up and removal of cataract patients has commenced, there will be a clearer understanding of the true new waiting list picture and trajectory of improvement”.
Bringing down ophthalmology waiting lists has been a priority for Health for several years.
Amid “pressure” caused by a combination of demand outstripping capacity and challenges caused by the pandemic leading surgeries to stop for a period of time, the department received funding to recruit more staff in August 2021.
The department spent over £261,444 – inclusive of staff expenses – bringing in an ophthalmic team to the Island to help cut down waiting times.
The team included 13 members of staff, including two ophthalmologists and eight nurses or Operating Department Practitioners, split into an outpatient team and a theatre one.
Despite the funding injection, there were more than 500 Islanders still awaiting their first ophthalmology appointment in February 2022.
In October, it emerged that the ophthalmology waiting list stood at 21 months – with cataract patients making up around 90% of those affected.
Describing this as “completely unacceptable”, then-Health Minister Karen Wilson confirmed that work was under way to rectify this.
At the time, she said that the Ophthalmology Department was advertising for a specialist nurse for the second time, after the first job listing failed to receive a single application.
