Welsh Government failing thousands of eyecare patients at risk of irreversible harm and blindness sa

Plaid AM Dr. Dai Lloyd has revealed that over 33,000 Welsh eyecare patients are at risk of irreversible harm, and potential blindness, due to delays in receiving follow-up hospital care.

Dr. Lloyd chairs the Assembly’s All Party Group on Vision, who at their last meeting were presented with data which showed that Welsh Health Boards had 37, 257 delayed patients on their Ophthalmology follow-up lists.

Clinical audits in Wales have shown that around ninety percent of patients (33,351) on Health Board follow-up lists suffer from conditions such as wet Age-related Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy – conditions which if not treated within the clinically agreed follow-up interval means that patients are at risk of “irreversible harm” to their eyesight.

In March, Dr. Lloyd wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Health outlining his concerns, and today he is hoping to question First Minister Carwyn Jones at the Senedd during the First Ministers’ Questions session.

Speaking prior to the Plenary session, Dai Lloyd stated:

“It is disgraceful that there are thousands of patients on our hospital Outpatient follow-up lists that are not being seen within the clinically agreed timescales.

“These are patients that have been assessed by a clinician as needing follow-up care for review and possible changes to treatment, but they are simply not receiving the required care as per NICE guidelines.

“The longer the delay to their follow-up care, the greater the risk that irreversible harm or blindness can occur. These patients need to be followed up regularly, but they are currently being failed.”

Dr. Lloyd added:

“There is clearly an inability to meet the demands on the hospital eyecare service, and the Welsh Government needs to invest in the service, to increase its capacity, and bring about urgent improvements.

“I am calling on the Welsh Government to first of all acknowledge that they are currently failing this group of patients, who are at risk of blindness, and to urgently bring forward revised plans for improvement.

“There is clearly a need to develop greater capacity to meet the demand, but there is also a need for the Welsh Government to start to report these figures regularly in an open and transparent way, so that we can start to track the impact of the changes that are so desperately needed within eye care services.”