50,000 awaiting eye treatments, many of them for 18 months

Some 50,000 people were on waiting lists for eye procedures at the end of last year, many of them for 18 months.

Of that number, 40,000 were on outpatient lists — up from 32,823 in 2016 — while 13,812 of these people were waiting more than a year and 7,589 more than 18 months.

The Association of Optometrists (AOI) says that eye-care services need to change urgently to meet ever-growing demand: 11,150 people were awaiting hospital procedures at the end of 2017, the second-largest inpatient list of any medical speciality.