Jersey’s cataract service was not properly realigned after a £1m scheme to drive down waiting lists – allowing the backlog to build up again, Health bosses have admitted.
There are now 653 patients who have waited more than a year for their first appointment for cataract treatment, according to papers due to go before the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board this week.
Between March 2024 and April 2025, a £1m waiting-list initiative involving provider Newmedica saw more than 500 Islanders sent to Southampton for cataract treatment.
However, a new report has revealed that “once the initiative finished, the care group were not able to realign their services to ensure the cataract waiting list did not build up again”.
It added: “This has now resulted in the situation as at today where 653 patients have, so far, waited over 365 days for their first appointment for cataract treatment.”
Cataracts are a condition where the lens in the eye develops cloudy or frosty patches. It causes patients’ eyesight to deteriorate – with symptoms including blurred vision and colours seeming faded. Often linked to old age, the condition can lead to vision loss.
Once the [cataract] initiative finished, the care group were not able to realign their services to ensure the cataract waiting list did not build up again
The ophthalmology backlog forms part of a wider problem with lengthy outpatient waits – with 2,333 patients currently waiting more than a year for a first appointment across a number of specialities.
The report said that workforce shortages, recruitment difficulties and insufficient clinical capacity are among the main causes.
The Health Department is now recruiting a part-time consultant ophthalmologist with a special interest in cataracts, while a full-time middle-grade locum has been brought in for three months to focus on patients who have been waiting the longest.
A government job advert for a fixed-term Cataract Consultant – offering a salary of up to almost £214,000 – acknowledges the growing pressure, stating: “The provision of specialist ophthalmology services has led to a consistently increasing backlog of routine cases.
“The majority of these patients are referred for the management of cataracts. In order to meet this demand, and to ensure that current specialist provision is maintained, a fixed-term appointment is being established to deliver a dedicated cataract service.”
Health said it was also planning to bring in additional cataract capacity to reduce waits to below 52 weeks while the permanent consultant is recruited.
The report warns that the waiting list is expected to remain high until the substantive appointment is filled and the ophthalmology service is reorganised to place greater focus on cataract treatment.
Health hopes to cut the number of ophthalmology patients waiting more than a year from 653 to 100 by the end of 2026 – but bringing down waiting lists in this area has been a priority for several years.
Amid “pressure” caused by a combination of demand outstripping capacity and challenges caused by the pandemic leading surgeries to stop for a period of time, ophthalmology received funding to recruit more staff in August 2021.
The department spent over £261,444 to bring in a 13-strong ophthalmic team to the Island to help cut down waiting times in 2022.
But just one year later, it emerged that patients were still having to wait around two years for an initial assessment – and £989,980 was allocated to refer 500 ophthalmology patients to the UK for cataract treatment in a bid to reduce waiting times to under a year.
