A total of 53% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) still restrict access to cataract surgery.
According to a published report by the Medical Technology Group 195 CCGs were analysed and 104 of them have not been performing enough cataract surgery operations on patients who require them.
The Federation of Dispensing Opticians (FODO) commented that it hoped attempts at ‘back-door rationing’ had been left in the past.
David Hewlett, chief executive of FODO, said: ‘These allegations will be as upsetting to front-line clinicians as they are to patients. Anyone who believes that cataract operations do not give people back their sight has clearly not read the evidence. We thought that non evidence-based rationing based on simple visual acuities or one eye only policies had been finally put to rest following the then Secretary of State’s personal intervention and the new NICE guideline in 2017. This is clearly not the case.’
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