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Optical Services

Volume 229: debated on Wednesday 21 July 1993

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To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many references from general practitioners and optometrists to hospital ophthalmology out-patient clinics have been made since 1985.

Information is available only for new out-patient referrals from general practitioners to ophthalmology out-patient clinics for the years ended March 1992 and 1993. The information for these two years is as follows:

Number
March 199267,143
March 199365,831

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidelines are issued to health boards for record keeping and collating statistics in hospital ophthalmic departments; and what data health boards are required to collate from hospital ophthalmology departments.

Information about hospital activities in Scotland, including information about the ophthalmology specialty, is published annually in sections 4 and 6 of the Scottish Health Statistics. A copy of the 1992 volume is in the Library. No special guidelines about record keeping are issued to health boards in respect of ophthalmology departments, which are expected to maintain the same standard as any other hospital department.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information he has regarding the incidence in Scotland of eye disease leading to blindness or NHS hospital treatment.

Information is not held centrally on the incidence in the general population of eye disease which leads to blindness. The following table shows the main disorders responsible for admission to ophthalmology units in Scotland in 1992.

All discharges of in-patients and day cases from the specialty ophthalmology for the year 1992 by diagnosis group
DiagnosisDischarges
Eye cancer243
Diabetic eye disease268
Retinal disorders992
Glaucoma2,125
Cataract13,084
Corneal disorders648
Disorders of conjunctiva273
Disorders of eyelid3,070
Strabismus2,461
Other disorders of eye and lacrimal system1,702
Injury to eye788
Other disorders associated with eye disease2,925
Total eye disorders27,579