Mark Pritchard, met with Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) at a parliamentary meeting where it launched its new report which reveals that patients are losing their sight due to overstretched eye clinics across England.
Responding to a survey, staff working in ophthalmology units expressed serious doubts over the ability of clinics to meet demand. Over 80 per cent said their eye department has insufficient capacity to meet current demand, with 94 per cent reporting that future capacity will not meet rising demand.
A worrying 37 per cent of staff said that patients are 'sometimes' losing their sight unnecessarily due to delayed treatment and follow up care caused by capacity problems. A further 4 per cent said they believed this loss of sight is happening ‘often’
. Mr Pritchard said: “I am supporting the RNIB campaign to raise awareness that local and national eye care needs to be improved even more. RNIB staff and volunteers throughout Shropshire do an excellent job for the visually impaired”. RNIB’s Chief Executive, Lesley-Anne Alexander CBE said: “These statistics are shameful as nobody should lose their sight from a treatable condition simply because their eye clinic is too busy to provide care in a clinically appropriate timescale. Hospital managers are ignoring the capacity crisis, often to save money, and are putting patients' sight at risk and their staff on course for burnout. RNIB believes these shocking results should act as a wake-up call to commissioners and to hospitals. They should be aware that if they do not act soon, they could be at risk of clinical negligence claims.”