AQW 20636/17-22


Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 18/06/2021
Answered On Date: 06/10/2021
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail the current number of patients on the waiting list for cataract surgery.


Answer:
Provisional data at 31st August 2021 indicated that there were 5,686 patients waiting for inpatient or day case cataract surgery in Northern Ireland. Data validation has not been completed and, therefore, data presented are provisional.
A number of services may not be provided at a patient’s local HSC Trust, and instead are provided at centres within other HSC Trusts or a Day Case Procedure Centre (DPC). Patients are reported against the HSC Trust or DPC responsible for the service that will be providing cataract surgery.
Table 1: Number of patients waiting for Cataract Surgery as at 31st August 2021 by HSC Trust and weeks waiting
HSC Trust
Weeks Waiting
Total Waiting
0-6
>6-13
>13-21
>21-26
>26-52
>52
Belfast
93
181
139
66
127
190
796
South Eastern
68
32
25
1
13
66
205
Southern
0
1
0
0
1
5
7
Western
145
257
181
97
460
1,205
2,345
DPC
327
416
347
115
481
647
2,333
Total
633
887
692
279
1,082
2,113
5,686
Source: DoH Inpatient Waiting Times Dataset
Data are provisional