General Ophthalmic Services, Workforce Statistics, England and Wales

Health and Social Care Information Centre – General Ophthalmic Services, Workforce Statistics, England and Wales – 31 December 2013

The Health and Social Care Information Centre published a report this week, which showed the number of ophthalmic practitioners (optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners) who were authorised, by NHS England Area Teams (AT) in England and Local Health Boards (LHB) in Wales, to carry out NHS funded sight tests as at 31December each year.

This report shows that as at 31 December 2013:

England

  • There were 11,457 ophthalmic practitioners. This is an increase of 324 (2.9 per cent) since 2012.
  • 97.4 per cent of practitioners were optometrists; the remainder (2.6 per cent) were ophthalmic medical practitioners (OMPs). These are similar percentages to the previous year.
  • There were 21.4 practitioners per 100,000 population, a slight increase from last year (20.8).
  • 5,494 (48.0 per cent) practitioners were male and 5,963 (52.0 per cent) practitioners were female. The 2003 breakdown was 56.3 per cent male and 43.7 per cent female practitioners.

Wales

  • There were 781 ophthalmic practitioners, a decrease of 28 (3.5 per cent) from the previous year.
  • 99.0 per cent of practitioners were optometrists; the remainder were OMPs (1.0 per cent).
  • There were 683 practitioners (87.5 per cent) on a Local Health Board (LHB) supplementary list, with the remaining 98 practitioners (12.5 per cent) on an ophthalmic list.
  • There were 25.4 practitioners per 100,000 population, a slight decrease from the previous year (26.3).
  • 386 (49.4 per cent) practitioners were male and 395 (50.6 per cent) were female. The 2003 breakdown was 55.8 per cent male and 44.2 per cent female practitioners.

To view the report click here.