Minister says eye treatment targets don't help patients

Health Inspectorate Wales says it's alleged that health boards prioritise eye patients at lower risk of blindness to meet treatment targets. Credit: PA

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething has told his officials to investigate allegations that management in two health boards are prioritising lower risk eyesight patients because they are easier to treat.

A report from Health Inspectorate Wales said they didn't know if the allegations were true but the suggestion was that people at greater risk of going blind were losing out as managers concentrated on meeting treatment targets. The minister was answering an urgent question in the Senedd from Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Vaughan Gething replied that the Royal National Institute for the Blind and NHS clinicians were looking at the way the targets were affecting treatment and that they would report to him in the next few months.

He said he had already told the health boards on several occasions that patients should be seen in order of clinical need.