Charities’ warning as over half of Fife opthalmology patients face 16-week wait

Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans said people with deteriorating eye conditions just don’t have the time to wait - and called on the Scottish Government to tackle the “spiralling” delays.

The figures published by Public Health Scotland, showed that out of 2111 people seen, 1109 had to wait over 16 weeks, while 1151 had to wait over 12 weeks.

Craig Spalding, chief executive of Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans, said: “We are greatly concerned about the impact this is having mentally on people with visual impairment and the worsening of existing conditions which will occur if treatment is not received.

“We know the NHS is under a lot of pressure, but treatment within appropriate time scales is essential for many eye conditions. Our community and wellbeing staff have reported many instances where our service users have told them that their sight has worsened due to the delays, with some saying it’s like their life has been placed on hold due to having to give up work.”

Mr Spalding added: “People with deteriorating eye conditions just don’t have the time to wait, if ophthalmology waiting times are not improved, they face the very real prospect of permanent damage. We welcome any movement from the Scottish Government towards tackling this.”

Claire Dobson, director of NHS Fife acute services, said the authority was making progress on cutting the waiting times.:

She added: “We are committed to minimising waits and in many areas, including ophthalmology, we are making headway.

“The last quarter of 2022 was incredibly challenging, with COVID, flu and other winter viruses putting unprecedented levels of pressure on healthcare services. These pressures impacted all healthcare services, and despite this we saw the highest number of ophthalmology outpatients than in any quarter since 2019.

“We are fortunate in Fife to have one of the most innovative and forward-thinking ophthalmology teams in the country. While it is true that we still have more patients waiting longer than we would like, we are working to maximise capacity as much as possible in order that we can reduce the number of patients waiting in excess of 12 weeks to be seen.”