Isle of Man pledge to carry out more eye ops to slash backlog

Eye patients are waiting 58 weeks on average for treatment

An £18.3m drive to cut surgery waiting times on the Isle of Man will see more complex eye operations carried out this month.

Manx Care chief Teresa Cope said the cataract procedures will be done in partnership with private firm Synpatik.

The average waiting time for eye patients to receive treatment has been estimated at about 58 weeks, with hundreds waiting to be seen.

The renewed push should see the backlog reduce, Ms Cope added.

The ops taking place in December will involve patients under general anaesthetic, though operations which do not require sedation will also continue, a Manx Care spokeswoman said.

Manx Care is aiming to cut the 58-week wait to 18 weeks, while reducing waits in orthopaedics from 46 weeks to four, and general surgery from 43 weeks to three.

Thirty open hernia operations are also planned to take place in December as part a wider effort to see times fall across the board.

It comes after Tynwald approved giving Manx Care an £18.3m cash boost to slash hospital waiting times by working with Synaptik to see about 3,800 general surgery, ophthalmology and orthopaedic patients treated by April 2023.

The Scottish healthcare firm has already worked with health authorities on the Isle of Man to deliver more than 400 endoscopy procedures and 350 cataract operations earlier this year,

Manx Care's request for funding comes after the Isle of Man government tasked it with cutting waiting times down to an 18-week referral to treatment time.