Manx Care: Cataract patients have appointments brought forward

Ophthalmology appointments are being booked for 350 patients

Treatment for about 350 cataract patients on the Isle of Man is to be brought forward, Manx Care has said.

Staff from a firm based in Scotland have been contracted to treat some of the 1,300 patients on the waiting list.

A Manx Care spokesman said consultation and pre-assessment appointments would be held at Noble's Hospital this month, with surgery carried out in March.

It is part of a drive to clear appointment backlogs in the Manx health service.

In July, the treasury approved £1.86m of additional funding to help reduce lengthy waiting times in several clinical specialities.

Increased capacity

Many of the lists had built-up under the Department of Health and Social Care before the creation of Manx Care, with some further exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 on health services.

Figures released last April revealed that ophthalmology patients were waiting an average of more than seven months for their first outpatient appointment with a consultant.

Patients waiting for treatment have been triaged by the ophthalmology team to identify those suitable for the procedures under the arrangement with Synaptik, the Manx Care spokesman said.

The initiative would work in tandem with services already scheduled to take place at Noble's Hospital during the same period, he added.

Manx Care CEO Teresa Cope said cataract treatment was an important part of the organisation's "restoration and recovery programme".

Using the private firm would "increase the capacity" for treatment on the island and help the organisation reduce waiting lists "faster", she added.