CHANGES to NHS referrals policies means more than 1,600 people in Northampton risk their eyesight deteriorating as they languish on waiting lists, new research claims.

With some patients forced to wait up to 24 weeks for treatment due to a new NHS ruling, 1,690 patients in Northampton will have to wait longer to access free cataracts treatment as a result, according to a survey by laser eye treatment firm Ultralase.

Despite more than eight out of 10 GPs surveyed stating that postponing treatment had a detrimental effect on patients’ quality of life, almost a third of practices admitted their patients would now have to wait for their eyesight to deteriorate even further before they could be referred to the NHS.

A spokeswoman for Ultralase said: “In most cases, patients who previously had 20:20 vision will not be eligible for treatment until their vision has regressed by at least four lines on a standard eye test chart, a drop to minimum driving standard. The most inconvenient factor perhaps being that the criteria must be reached for each eye; leaving many patients with only one eye treated for months while having to go through the referral process twice.”

Dr Chris Steele, the ambassador for the campaign, added: “A cataract is a very serious condition that will affect all of us as we get older, so it’s concerning to see the referral process becoming even stricter in so many GP practices.”

The findings were taken from a focus group of 100 GPs and a national poll of 1,000 people which commissioned by Ulttralase to highlight the issue.

A spokesman for the Nene Commissioning group of GPs, which is set to take over the NHS in Northamptonshire, said the changes benefit many patients and said they had so far received no formal complaints since the shake-up in May.

He said: “The patient pathway has been revised to allow prioritisation of patients who are in greatest need, with the option to fast-track and approve patients who have exceptional circumstances as identified by their referring optician. So far we are not aware of any adverse feedback from the clinical team responsible for the care of cataract patients.”