Madam,

In February 2017 your newspaper printed the opinion of Hywel Dda University Health Board’s county director, Peter Skitt in an article headlined ‘Eye and dental clinics judged not fit for purpose’.

Due to the run-down state of the building, it would be good to know what progress has been made in the intervening 22 months.

Whilst members of the North Ceredigion Forum for Elderly Care knew of instances of rapid attention from the Eye Clinic in urgent cases, many had also been informed anecdotally of cases where patients awaiting services became urgent cases due to the length of the wait.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Hywel Dda revealed “there are currently 3,178 patients awaiting Ophthalmology services at Bronglais General Hospital and North Road Eye Clinic”.

Of those, 867 patients await their first outpatients’ appointment and none have been waiting longer than 12 months.

For those who have received a first appointment and are awaiting a follow-up or treatment, the wait can be considerably longer.

One possible help is the Eye Health Examination Wales scheme, which enables consultants to refer patients to registered and accredited local opticians, where they have the equipment and expertise to undertake many of the preliminary tests and follow-up checks done by the eye clinic.

The forum is unable to say what the take-up of this scheme has been, as Hywel Dda deemed it too expensive to gather that data for a Freedom of Information enquiry.

Perhaps Hywel Dda would be willing to share information as to how many amongst their 3,178 patients are currently on this care pathway and, if the numbers are not substantial, would they consider making more use of it in future?

Yours etc,

George Holloway, On behalf of North Ceredigion Forum for Elderly Care.

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