To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the percentage of patients aged 60 or over who turned up for hospital appointments for referrals made following initial sight tests, for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered on
16 November 2016
The information in the following table shows waiting times for first outpatient appointments for patients aged 60 and over with a referral from an optometrist that were attended, and the number and percentage of such appointments that were not attended.
Table: first outpatient appointments1 by attendance category for patients aged 60 and over with a referral from an optometrist, 2010-11 to 2014-15 | |||||||||||||
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | |||||||||
Attended | Number | 74,304 | 79,638 | 93,122 | 108,448 | 118,708 | |||||||
Percentage of total | 86.6% | 85.3% | 84.8% | 85.7% | 85.2% | ||||||||
Median time waited in days2 | 35 | 36 | 40 | 42 | 43 | ||||||||
Did not attend | Number | 3,260 | 3,537 | 4,055 | 4,341 | 4,778 | |||||||
Percentage of total | 3.8% | 3.8% | 3.7% | 3.4% | 3.4% | ||||||||
Hospital cancelled | Number | 2,368 | 3,500 | 4,234 | 4,877 | 5,452 | |||||||
Percentage of total | 2.8% | 3.7% | 3.9% | 3.9% | 3.9% | ||||||||
Patient cancelled | Number | 5,326 | 6,446 | 8,186 | 8,682 | 10,308 | |||||||
Percentage of total | 6.2% | 6.9% | 7.5% | 6.9% | 7.4% | ||||||||
Not known | Number | 494 | 221 | 176 | 148 | 156 | |||||||
Percentage of total | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | ||||||||
Total appointments | 85,752 | 93,342 | 109,773 | 126,496 | 139,402 | ||||||||
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital | |||||||||||||
Notes: | |||||||||||||
1. Includes activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. | |||||||||||||
2. These data are not the same as the referral to treatment (RTT) waiting times data that monitor delivery of the NHS Constitution right to start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions. | |||||||||||||
RTT data do not include patient specific information. | |||||||||||||