50,000 people on waiting lists for eye treatments; 2 in 5 waiting for over year

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

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.