Eye patients are at risk of going blind on NHS waiting lists, according to a report being presented to MPs on Wednesday.

Some 200,000 more patients were referred to a specialist eye doctor than actually treated by one last year, new analysis found.

Of the NHS’s total backlog of 7.29 million appointments in England, one in every 12 was for an ophthalmology appointment to treat or diagnose complex eye conditions.

It is the second worst of any speciality, behind trauma and orthopaedics (T&O).

Gyles Brandreth, a broadcaster, former Conservative MP and sight-loss campaigner, said the research, suggested people could “needlessly go blind while they await treatment”.

“Most sight loss is avoidable if it is treated early enough,” he added. “However, growing pressure on waiting lists means that, in many cases, people will have to wait far too long to receive treatment.

“This creates a significant and totally unnecessary risk that many people could needlessly go blind while they await treatment. To see this situation unfolding in the UK is incredibly concerning.”

The pressure on eye care services has increased across the country, with new referrals outweighing the number of people treated in 34 of the 42 NHS integrated care boards (ICBs), the report by eye health specialist Newmedica has found.

Some two million people are living with sight loss in the UK and health officials expect this to increase to 2.7 million in less than five years.

The paper calls for the mandatory reporting of ophthalmology waiting lists by condition to increase transparency and help patients choose where to get care.

The areas facing the biggest increases in pressure were in the south of England, the research found, including Devon, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Luton.

The research also investigated potential “blind spots” across England for the treatment of common but serious conditions, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma and cataracts.

The researchers compared the age of local populations with the data from the UK eye care data hub to figure out the likely prevalence of disease in each ICB area.

They found that all three conditions were most likely to be under-diagnosed in the south east of England, excluding London.

For example, the region saw 22 per cent fewer cataract surgeries performed – around 19,000 – than would be expected based on the demographic and national trends. Meanwhile, injections for AMD were 26 per cent lower than expected (34,000) and glaucoma prescriptions were 7.5 per cent lower (121,000).

The biggest individual “treatment gap” for cataracts was in NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West, with 40 per cent less surgeries completed than expected.

For both AMD and Glaucoma, it was NHS Surrey Heartlands, where there was a 56 per cent and 16 per cent gap respectively.

Nigel Kirkpatrick, medical director at Newmedica, said these people “may be effectively invisible to the system and therefore not receiving the treatment they need”.

He said the findings were “a clear warning that eye health across England is under threat”.

“This isn’t a failure of clinical expertise,” he said. “It is a consequence of a system under funding pressure and a lack of transparency which makes it impossible for health commissioners to prioritise need.”

“The result is that many instances of avoidable sight loss continue to occur, often because care is delivered too late,” he added.

“By embracing this reform, we can create a new system which delivers high-quality consultant-led care at scale. In doing so there’s a real opportunity to increase capacity, increase treatment levels and significantly improve ophthalmology patient outcomes across the country.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Our number one priority is cutting waiting lists, including for ophthalmology. They are down by 340,000 since July 2024, and more people are now being treated in 18 weeks than at any point in almost half a decade.

“As part of our 10-year health plan, we are investing £20m to equip high-street optometrists with the digital tools they need to refer patients faster and more accurately and bring eye care closer to home.”