MEDICINE BALLS
Cataract cash
THE NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHS CFA) is examining billing irregularities in the private cataract market, which has grown by 400 percent since 2019, the
Sunday Times
reports. The NHS pays for 650,000 operations a year. Across England, 131 private clinics have opened since 2019, with costs for the NHS doubling.
The Eye has previously reported on concerns that mass outsourcing to the private sector of easier cataract operations could destabilise NHS eye units and leave them without funding and skills for more complex operations (Eye 1621). Additional concerns are that some cataract operations may be unnecessary; some private providers use poorer quality lenses; and, although they are supposed to manage their own follow-ups and complications, many patients end up back in the NHS.