Regional health bosses have defended their NHS cataract services following tabloid reports patients were being forced to pay for operations – but cited journeys across the country in search of treatment.
Eye service managers from Plymouth to Rochdale said the suggestion that NHS patients should self-fund cataract surgery to beat long waiting lists was ‘misleading and unnecessary’.
‘I really want people in the Rochdale area and beyond to be aware that they don’t have to pay in order to get their cataract operations quickly thanks to our innovative and much-loved local NHS service,’ said Kenneth Brearton, who manages the Rochdale Ophthalmology Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service (CATS).
Rochdale Ophthalmology CATS, run by Care UK, said waiting times at the specialist clinic for cataract operations were only four to six weeks. It follows media coverage suggesting people were being forced to wait eight months or more for a simple NHS-funded cataract operation in many parts of the country.
‘Only last week, a patient from the midlands decided to make the 70 mile journey up to Rochdale because she realised that she could have her NHS cataract operation in a few short weeks instead of the several months being offered in her home town,’ Care UK said in a statement.
Patricia Warwick, hospital director at Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre in Plymouth, added: ‘When we read recent reports we were concerned that people in Devon and Cornwall would feel they had no alternative but to pay for cataract surgery. We want patients to know that, as long as they meet the NHS criteria for surgery, they can receive free NHS treatment from us within 18 weeks, in a consultant-led service. Indeed, at the moment we’re working to a 10-12 week period between referral and operation.’