PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Ophthalmic Services: Coronavirus (14 September 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what resources and funding he is allocating to restart ophthalmology services and provide increased ophthalmology capacity as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Asked by:
Marsha De Cordova (Labour)

As part of the third phase of the National Health Service response to COVID-19, focus is on accelerating the return of non-COVID-19 health services, including ophthalmology, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures.

To support with this, the Government is providing an additional £3 billion to the NHS, which includes funding for continued access to the independent sector to carry out routine treatments and procedures as well as provide additional capacity for COVID-19 patients, should it be needed.

The restoration of services will also be done alongside continued vigilance in light of any further COVID-19 spikes locally and possibly nationally.

Answered by:
Edward Argar (Conservative)
22 September 2020