Cataract surgery waiting lists: FOI release

Information requested

Under the Freedom of Information act I would like you to find out how many people of all ages are currently on the waiting list for cataract surgery in Scotland and why a 20 min operation per eye is taking 2 years to preform?

Response

In response to your request for information on how many people of all ages are waiting cataract surgery:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in the Annex to this letter.

In response to your ask of why a 20 minutes operation is taking 2 years to perform:

Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed surgical intervention in the UK. Demand is rising due to an aging population and impact of pandemic and unprecedented levels of inflation across the public sector, has inevitably disrupted the NHS’s ability to carry out routine procedures, meaning longer waits for many patients.

Although cataract operations are generally short procedures, and we are working with health boards to ensure delivery of one cataract every 30 mins, as per Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines, the overall volume of the waiting list for these procedures is significant.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, including almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. We will deliver over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year which will ensure people receive the care they need as quickly as possible.

ANNEX A

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for. Inpatient and day-case data is collected across NHSScotland by NHS Health Boards locally. These data are routinely sourced from hospital administrative systems by Public Health Scotland (PHS) as Scotland’s national public health body for the purpose of intelligence and analysis but are not collected centrally by Scottish Government.

PHS uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day-case under the Treatment Time Guarantee.

This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment – in this case, ophthalmology. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after the patient was admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national datamart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.