Professor David Keegan:

It depends on what they have been referred with. One of our concerns is that patients with cataracts, which is the biggest cohort of patients, are needlessly living with vision impairment while waiting for appointments to be assessed and then for procedures that will reverse the problem. It is a straightforward procedure that is delivered quickly in great units throughout the country.

The other area of concern picked up by Dr. Edward Dervan and the team in the glaucoma EVSA is the delayed presentations of glaucoma into our services. For those who are not aware, glaucoma is a condition that can reduce and diminish sight loss in a silent manner and patients do not present until late in the condition. It is one of the areas we have identified through NERIECS. By employing the community teams, empowering the ophthalmologist to do that initial assessment and having a standardised optometric referral form, we will increase the speed at which we see the right patients, at the right time.

The other group we are concerned about is those with age-related macular degeneration, AMD. These patients can suffer irreversible sight loss if they have the wet type of macular degeneration, with 65% having irreversible sight loss within three months of diagnosis. Rapid access to care is needed. We will greatly enhance that access through our AMD pathway, but we should have a standardised referral and local diagnostics.

Dr. Rogers can talk about the risks in delaying paediatric amblyopia-----