§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many vacancies there are in the National Health Service for specialists capable of treating torn and detached retinas by surgical freezing combined with laser equipment; and whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the total number of specialists employed in the National Health Service in each of the past three years on treating patients with this ailment.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeMost of the consultants in the specialty of ophthalmology are capable of treating torn or detached retinas, but information is not available on how many do so using surgical freezing. At 30 September 1982 the number of consultant posts in ophthalmology in England and Wales without a permanent holder was 39, of which 13 were occupied wholly or in part by locums. The number of consultants in the specialty employed by health authorities in England and Wales in the past three years is given in the table below.
493W
Consultants (and SHMOs with allowance) in ophthalmology Year 1980 398 1981 406 1982 408
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many National Health Service patients have lost the sight of an eye in each of the past three years as a result of a torn or detached retina not responding to treatment.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThis information is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many hospitals are equipped with surgical freezing and laser equipment to treat torn and detached retinas; how many of these are in the National Health Service; how many patients have been treated for this ailment in National Health Service hospitals in each of the past three years; and how many in each year have paid for their treatment in whole or in part.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation about the number of ophthalmological and cryosurgery units in hospitals is not collected centrally, but it is estimated that there are about 100 such lasers in National Health Service hospitals in the United Kingdom. The estimated numbers of inpatients treated in NHS hospitals for retinal detachment and defects in each of the last three years for which figures are available are as follows:
Year NHS patients Private patients Total 1979 6,680 350 7,030 1980 7,000 320 7,320 *1981 7,240 410 7,650 * Provisional.