Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 21 October 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the average and longest waiting times are for cataract surgery, when calculated from initial referral to completion of treatment, in the most recent year for which data is available and broken down by NHS board.
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
Public Health Scotland (PHS), as Scotland’s national public health body for the purpose of intelligence and analysis, is responsible for sourcing waiting times data from hospital administrative systems.
PHS publish regular statistics relating to the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case. This data can be used to identify the volume of long waits and the median waiting time by the specialty of treatment, including ophthalmology. The latest publication can be found here: Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 30 June 2025 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland.