Moray MP welcomes moves to reduce cataract waiting list
Moray MP Douglas Ross has welcomed a move by NHS Grampian to increase capacity within their ophthalmology department which will allow patients to receive vital cataract surgery at extra clinics over the weekend.
Douglas was commenting after receiving a response from the health board after he raised a constituent’s case with them. The constituent had waited a year and a half to have a cataract removed and was told to expect a further wait to have their other eye treated.
Commenting Douglas said: “Although I welcome these measures to try and reduce the waiting list by providing extra weekend capacity, more needs to be done here in Moray. We need more clinics so that people don’t have to travel to Aberdeen, particularly in the winter.
“Waiting for cataract surgery can have a debilitating effect and several constituents have told me that their lives are being negatively affected by having to wait so long to be treated. They need surgery as quickly as possible and having to wait for more than a year is unacceptable.
“Although I welcome this latest move by NHS Grampian to try and address this problem by introducing extra capacity at the weekend, it still requires Moray patients to travel to Aberdeen, which is not easy in the winter months if there are problems on the road.
“I note that a new cataract procedure room is also now operational in Aberdeen to help improve waiting times for patients across Grampian, but there is an ophthalmology department at Dr Gray’s which is not being used to its full capacity.
“If more consultant time were provided in Moray to treat more people it could help to address the backlog, especially for those patients who find it hard to travel through to Aberdeen for the procedure.”