PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Ophthalmic Services: Children (21 March 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many outpatient (a) ophthalmology, (b) medical ophthalmology, (c) optometry and (d) orthoptic appointments for children under 19 years of age took place in 2014-15.

Asked by:
Matthew Pennycook (Labour)

The information is shown in the following table.

Information on outpatient ophthalmology, medical ophthalmology, optometry and orthoptic appointments for patients under 19 years of age in 2014-15.

Appointments

Treatment speciality	Attended first appointments	Attended appointments	All appointments
Ophthalmology	56,665	507,665	701,351
Medical Ophthalmology	9,219	26,101	32,119
Optometry	4,029	8,009	11,062
Orthoptics	57,108	269,882	394,663

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Notes:

The table contains the number of booked appointments for outpatients. They are recorded as one row per appointment that was made, whether it was attended or not.

A patient's treatment in outpatients can consist of a series of appointments; a distinction between the first in the series and subsequent appointments is commonly reported.

Answered by:
Alistair Burt (Conservative)
24 March 2016