Commenting on the report, which was published today, College President Professor Ben Burton said:
“The Prime Minister and Lord Darzi have rightly pulled no punches in making clear that the NHS is in a critical condition and needs fundamental reform. We are grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to the review and are pleased to see some of our policy asks incorporated in the final report. We are, however, disappointed that our highlighted concern about the impact of long follow-up waiting lists was not addressed. It is not right to aim to reduce these lists by prioritising independent sector provision of cataract operations over the prevention of irreversible sight loss from conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration.
Lord Darzi identifies several key priorities in a long-term programme of reform. These include addressing the multi-billion pound shortfall in capital spending, which has been a significant drag on productivity with many ophthalmology departments lacking the clinic and theatre space to cut waiting lists, and promoting a major drive towards better using technology, which we believe is essential to deliver improvements. Interoperable electronic patient records and image sharing capabilities across primary, secondary and community care would unlock huge efficiency gains for eye care.
We look forward to working with the government to help shape these reforms and the Long Term Workforce Plan. It’s vital that we’re able to give our patients access to comprehensive NHS eye care services that are properly resourced with the right people and infrastructure in place”.