IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This website is no longer being updated.

NHS Barnsley Clinical Commissioning Group has been legally dissolved and from 1 July 2022 has been replaced by a new organisation: NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (SY ICB). NHS South Yorkshire ICB is now responsible for commissioning and funding of health and care services locally. Please go to our new website www.southyorkshire.icb.nhs.uk for information about the work of NHS South Yorkshire ICB and details about how to contact us.

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Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery involves replacing the cloudy lens inside your eye with an artificial one. It's the most common operation performed in the UK.

Check the Cataract Surgery checklist for further information.

How can I be referred?

To make sure that you get the best treatment for your condition your GP, hospital consultant or nurse specialist will discuss the different treatment options with you.

Some operations or treatments will only be recommended for some patients and your doctor will assess whether or not you meet the clinical conditions or criteria. Please click here to look at the criteria for Cataract Surgery.

If you meet the criteria then this will be the best treatment option for you and the procedure will be arranged.

If you don’t meet the criteria then you will be offered the most effective treatment for your particular condition.

If you don’t qualify for the treatment, but your doctor or nurse thinks that there are exceptional clinical circumstances in your case then they may submit an Individual Funding Request (IFR) to an independent panel for consideration.

The IFR panel meets weekly and aims to consider cases within 14days. The panel’s decision will be communicated to you by letter if you are an adult or by letter to your GP if you are the guardian of a child applying for funding.

If your IFR application is rejected (meaning that your surgery will not be funded by the NHS), then you or your GP has the right to appeal to the IFR panel against this decision within 90days. The panel is independent to your local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).