Scheme launched to send cataract patients to the UK for surgery
AN INITIATIVE to send cataract patients to the UK for surgery has been launched.
Non-urgent cataract operations were put on hold earlier this year, with ophthalmology services facing major recruitment issues and a waiting list that has grown to be over 12 months long. While services restarted in July, as of 8 November, 92 islanders had been were waiting over a year for an outpatient appointment.
The new arrangement, with UK provider Newmedica, part of the Specsavers group, will deliver a similar arrangement for cataracts surgery that has been available in Jersey since March.
Guernsey patients will have the option to travel to Southampton for their treatment and be home within 36 hours.
Health & Social Care will pay NHS costs, flights and accommodation for the patient.
HSC president Al Brouard said this was the most cost-effective method to provide patient-centred care in a timely way.
‘The aim of this initiative is to get those who have waited longest treated as soon as possible. It is about improving the overall ophthalmology waiting list to a level which better supports patients, by using on- and off-island providers,’ he said.
Cataracts, which often develop in old age, occur due to protein changes in the lens of the eye, which can become cloudy, affecting vision.
From December it is expected up to 10 patients a week will travel to the UK for surgery. Patients will then have any aftercare they need back on island, with support from local opticians’ practices.
On-island treatment by MSG will be provided for those who opt out or for who treatment in the UK may not be suitable.
One 78-year-old Guernsey patient, who has been waiting for cataract surgery on both eyes since being diagnosed in September 2023, told the Guernsey Press he had already been contacted by the team in Southampton.
‘I’m now just waiting for a date,’ he said. ‘I’m hopeful I will get seen in December. At the moment I have problems with my balance because of the cataracts and I’m more than happy to go to Southampton to have the surgery. It can’t come soon enough.’
