More than 10,000 patients have been waiting over a year to see an eye specialist, despite Government promises to slash waiting lists and move services from hospitals to the community.
A total of 7,144 children have been on the ophthalmology waiting list for at least 12 months, including 3,483 under five years of age, according to new figures.
In addition, 3,460 adults have been on the list for this time, including 1,737 over-65s.
There are 22,169 patients nationally on the overall ophthalmology waiting list, according to the Health Service Executive. However, the length of the waiting lists varies hugely from region to region.
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Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane, who obtained the figures from a parliamentary question, described the number of long waiters on the waiting list as unacceptable and predicted it will lead to “worsened conditions and worsened health outcomes, including irreversible loss of sight”.
He added: “Early intervention is key in healthcare. When it comes to our eyes, it is essential that children and adults are seen quickly. Long waits can lead to visual impairment or even blindness which could have been avoided. We need to be making better use of community optometrists and primary eye-care clinics to diagnose, treat, and deliver early intervention where appropriate.”
North Dublin (HSE community healthcare organisation [CHO] area 9) has no eye patients waiting for appointments and no children waiting longer than 12 weeks.
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CHO area 7 (Dublin south and west and Kildare/west Wicklow) has just 73 patients waiting over 12 weeks on its ophthalmology waiting list. At the end of September, these two areas along with CHO 6 (Dublin southeast, Dún Laoghaire/Wicklow) had markedly shorter lists than other areas of the State.
President of the Irish College of Ophthalmologists Tim Fulcher said it was encouraged by the figures in CHO areas 6, 7 and 9 “as these are the areas where we know the investment has gone into ophthalmology services. We look forward to similar results being achieved in the other CHOs as the rollout of the integrated eye-care team model continues nationally.”
Mr Cullinane called on the Government to “take the workforce shortage in ophthalmology seriously, and train, recruit, and retain consultants in these posts. Waiting lists can be dramatically reduced if conditions are caught early, and care delivered at the right time in the right place, freeing up limited capacity for the most severe cases.”
Cataract operations are one of 15 high-volume procedures covered by the Government’s €350 million waiting list action plan for this year. It commits to reducing wait times for all patients to under six months by the end of 2022, a goal unlikely to be met.
Following a review in 2017, the HSE undertook to move most eye care to local optometrists in the community in order to increase access and cut waiting lists. The Covid-19 pandemic has impeded these efforts, it has said.
