Patient numbers published recently by the independent OCL Vision eye clinic reveal a surging demand for private eye surgery as NHS waiting lists break new records.
Since launching four years ago, OCL Vision has treated more than 11,000 private patients and saw 4,115 new patients in the past year alone.
Demand is particularly high for laser eye surgery, with OCL’s surgeons carrying out 50% more laser procedures in the past 12 months than they did during the pre-Covid year 2018-19. The clinic also claims to be playing a leading role in easing the pressure on the NHS, which is wrestling with huge patient backlogs following the pandemic. Indeed, data from NHS England shows that in October 2022, 7.2 million patients who had been referred for hospital treatment were still waiting to be seen – the highest number on record – while almost 411,000 people had been waiting over a year for treatment, three times longer than the NHS’s target of 18 weeks from referral.
