North: Cataract surgeons 'blitz' waiting list
14/10/2005 - 12:10:22A team of surgeons from a private clinic in England is spending the weekend in Co Tyrone trying to wipe out the waiting list of people in the area needing cataract operations, it was revealed today.
The 25 surgeons and nurses from the Birkdale Clinic in Liverpool will perform around 200 cataract and other eye operations in a two day blitz.
Health Minister Shaun Woodward said he was committed to ending the misery for hundreds of people waiting for cataract operations.
He said: “I am particularly concerned about the numbers of elderly people waiting for months, with little or no sight, for treatment for cataracts and other eye conditions.
“This situation is completely unnecessary”.
In July the minister expressed the determination that no patient already identified and on a day-case waiting list for cataract or other eye operations would wait more than six months.
“I vowed that I would put patients first. To do this I asked the health service to use all means at its disposal to ensure all unnecessary waiting lists are eliminated.
“This included making full use of the independent sector, which England has already been doing successfully.”
The Birkdale Clinic team will be operating at the Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh under an arrangement made with the Western Health Board.
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