NHS: Thousands of Scots going private for eye surgery as waiting lists soar to over three years
Thousands are forking out £2,500 for private cataract surgery.
Thousands of Scots are being forced to go private due to waits of more than three years for NHS cataract surgery.
In 2024, around 8,500 people in Scotland went private for this treatment, which replaces a cloudy lens in the eye with an artificial lens, and costs approximately £2,500. This is double the number going private in 2019.
Around 19,000 Scots are currently stuck on an NHS waiting list for cataract surgery.
New figures obtained by the Scottish Lib Dems also show one patient at NHS Grampian waited 1,253 days for this surgery - almost three and a half years.
Other long waits included 869 days at NHS Shetland, 824 days at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 680 days at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, 644 days at NHS Borders, 548 days at NHS Fife, 532 days at NHS Lanarkshire, and 508 days at NHS Highland.
The average expected waiting time at NHS Shetland for this surgery is 323 days, and in NHS Ayrshire and Arran it is 272 days - but one in 10 patients have been told to expect to wait 432 days.
The longest waiting list is at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, where 3,207 patients have been referred and are now waiting for treatment. The second longest list is NHS Fife with 2,440 patients.
Leader of the Scottish Lib Dems Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “I can only imagine the panic and distress that these waits are causing for patients.
“I know that NHS staff are working hard to get waiting lists down but they are not getting the support they need from bosses and ministers.
“With waits stretching into the months and years, it’s clear that the SNP have no plan for tackling long waits for complex specialities.
“Ministers need to ensure that cataract surgery waits come down and people can get the care they need swiftly and close to home.
“I know from working closely with campaigners pressing for a replacement for the Edinburgh Eye Pavilion that staff can work more efficiently and effectively if they have the right facilities available.
“That’s why it was so important to me to secure progress towards a new eye pavilion in our recent budget negotiations.
“The SNP have repeatedly demonstrated that the NHS will never be their priority.
“My party has a track record of exposing scandalous long waits and delivering investment.
“That’s why no matter where you live, anyone who is sick of long waits for healthcare should back the Scottish Liberal Democrats on their peach regional ballot at next year’s election.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said ministers had allocated £106 million to health boards to help tackle the longest waits. Ministers expect this to result in over 150,000 additional appointments and procedures.
First Minister John Swinney has pledged to bring down NHS waiting lists, and the SNP has promised no one will wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment by the 2026 Holyrood election.
Earlier this year analysis from Edinburgh University predicted nearly one million people will be on a Scottish NHS waiting list by next year.
The analysis shows NHS Scotland must treat at least 20 per cent more non-emergency hospital cases over the next three years to eliminate the backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The researchers said that without any increase in capacity, the waiting list will increase to nearly one million people by December 2026.
At the beginning of the year Mr Swinney made a speech in Edinburgh where he set out what his government would focus on to achieve the additional 150,000 appointments and procedures. This included reducing immediate pressures in the NHS, shifting the balance from acute services to the community, and using innovation to improve access to care.
He acknowledged patients in Scotland were not getting “the right care in the right place at the right time”.
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