Galway Bay fm newsroom - Optometry Ireland says there are deliverable opportunities to reform eye-care to have patients seen quicker and at less cost in the Galway area and nationwide.
It comes as 3,350 people are on a waiting list for outpatient ophthalmology appointments at UHG.
A further 689 are waiting for inpatient or day case procedures at UHG.
National Treatment Purchase Fund figures to August 2021 show that almost 41,200 people nationwide are on the outpatient eye-care waiting list.
Almost 19,000 were waiting more than a year, and 14,800 more than 18 months.
Optometry Ireland President John Weldon says as the HSE has to manage healthcare budgets with the additional pressures COVID-19 has created, there is an opportunity to address this in eye-care through greater use of optometrists.
