Official Statistics

Vision profile statistical commentary: July 2025

Published 1 July 2025

Applies to England

What’s new

New data for hospital outpatients and procedures has been added for the financial year ending 2024 and data back to the financial year ending 2014 has been updated. Integrated care board (ICB) and NHS England region geographies have also been added.

The following indicators have been updated (where age has not been specified, this refers to all ages):

• vision outpatient attendances (persons based)
• vision outpatient attendances
• admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over
• admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over
• intravitreal injection therapy procedures in people aged 60 years and over

Introduction

The vision profile gives local areas comparable indicators of risk factors, healthcare provision and outcomes to support commissioning and planning, and to identify unwarranted geographical variation.

Main findings

This update shows:

• 3.7 million people attended 9.8 million hospital outpatient appointments for vision across England in the financial year ending 2024
• there has been a year-on -year increase in the number of patients attending hospital outpatient appointments for vision since the financial year ending 2014, with the exception of the pandemic financial year ending 2021
• rates of hospital procedures for cataract surgery, rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery and intravitreal injection therapy are increasing and were significantly higher in the financial year ending 2024 than in both the previous financial year and the pre-pandemic financial year ending 2020

Detailed findings

Vision outpatient attendances (persons based)

In the financial year ending 2024, there were almost 3.7 million people who attended hospital outpatient appointments for vision in England, a rate of 6,127 (6,121 to 6,134) per 100,000 population, which was significantly higher than both the previous financial year rate of 5,801 (5,795 to 5,807) and the pre-pandemic financial year. Since the financial year ending 2014, there has been a 23% increase in the number of people attending outpatient appointments. This increase may reflect the increasing older population in England.

There is geographical variation in the rate of persons attending hospital outpatient appointments for vision across England. In the financial year ending in 2024, among NHS England regions:

• North West had the highest rate at 6,432 (6,414 to 6,450) per 100,000 population, a 4% increase on the previous year
• South East had the lowest rate at 5,632 (5,617 to 5,647) per 100,000 population, a 9% increase on the previous year

Figure 1: vision outpatient attendances (persons based), directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, selected NHS England regions and England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024

Source: OHID, based on NHS England Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients (HES OP) and patients registered at a GP practice.

Vision outpatient attendances

For diseases that affect vision it is common that a person might attend the hospital several times during the year. This indicator measures the number of outpatient appointments rather than the number of people attending.

In the financial year ending 2024, there were over 9.8 million vision outpatient attendances in England, a rate of 16,565 (16,542 to 16,588) per 100,000 population, which was significantly higher than both the previous financial year rate of 15,362 (15,340 to 15,385) and the pre-pandemic financial year. Since the financial year ending 2014, there has been a 27% increase in the number of hospital outpatient appointments.

There is geographical variation in the rate of hospital outpatient attendances for vision across England. Variation in the coding practice of outpatient appointments across sub-ICBs could be partly responsible for this variation. In the financial year ending in 2024, among NHS England regions:

• London had the highest rate at 18,096 (18,025 to 18,167) per 100,000 population, an 8% increase on the previous year
• South East had the lowest rate at 15,570 (15,512 to 15,628) per 100,000 population, a 12% increase on the previous year

Figure 2: vision outpatient attendances, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, selected NHS England regions and England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024

Source: OHID, based on NHS England HES OP and patients registered at a GP practice.

Admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over

In the financial year ending 2024, there were 581,369 admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in England, a rate of 5,160 (5,144 to 5,176) per 100,000 population, which was significantly higher than both the previous financial year rate of 4,679 (4,663 to 4,694) and the pre-pandemic financial year.

There is geographical variation in the rate of admissions to hospital for cataract surgery across England. In the financial year ending in 2024, among NHS England regions:

• North West had the highest rate at 5,813 (5,764 to 5,862) per 100,000 population, a 14% increase on the previous year
• South West had the lowest rate at 4,567 (4,524 to 4,610) per 100,000 population, a 3% increase on the previous year

Figure 3: admissions to hospital for cataract surgery in people aged 65 years and over, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, selected NHS England regions and England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024

Source: OHID, based on NHS England Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC) and patients registered at a GP practice

Admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over

In the financial year ending 2024, there were 13,129 admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in England, a rate of 27.5 (26.9 to 28.0) per 100,000 population, which was significantly higher than both the previous financial year rate of 25.9 (25.4 to 26.5) and the pre-pandemic financial year.

There is geographical variation in the rate of admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery across England. In the financial year ending in 2024, among NHS England regions:

• East of England had the highest rate at 32.0 (30.2 to 33.8) per 100,000 population, which had not significantly increased on the previous year
• Midlands had the lowest rate at 22.2 (21.1 to 23.3) per 100,000 population, which had not significantly increased on the previous year

Figure 4: admissions to hospital for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery in people aged 18 years and over, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, selected NHS England regions and England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024

Source: OHID, based on NHS England HES APC and patients registered at a GP practice.

Intravitreal injection therapy procedures in people aged 60 years and over

In the financial year ending 2024, there were 830,687 intravitreal injection therapy procedures in England, a rate of 5,613 (5,585 to 5,641) per 100,000 population which was significantly higher than both the previous financial year rate of 5,174 (5,146 to 5,201) and the pre-pandemic financial year. Since the financial year ending 2014, there has been a 233% increase in the number of intravitreal injection therapy procedures. It is possible that this increase reflects both an increase in procedures being carried out and improved data quality.

There is geographical variation in the rate of intravitreal injection therapy procedures across England. In the financial year ending in 2024, among NHS England regions:

• North East and Yorkshire had the highest rate at 7,188 (7,102 to 7,274) per 100,000 population, which had not significantly increased on the previous year, which contrasts to patterns in other areas and in England overall
• East of England had the lowest rate at 4,885 (4,815 to 4,956) per 100,000 population, a 12% increase on the previous year

Figure 5: intravitreal injection therapy procedures in people aged 60 years and over, directly standardised rate per 100,000 population, selected NHS England regions and England, in the financial year ending 2014 to the financial year ending 2024

Source: OHID, based on NHS England HES APC, HES OP and patients registered at a GP practice

There is wide variation in the rate of intravitreal injection therapy procedures across sub-ICBs in England. Some of the variation may be due to differences in coding by hospitals as there is no mandatory requirement for Hospital Episode Statistics outpatient episodes to be coded by diagnosis (ICD10) or by procedure (OPCS4). A more consistent approach to coding will increase our understanding of the variation in service delivery of this important service.

Methodology

Where significance is mentioned, this relates to comparing the 95% confidence intervals of the 2 different estimates to see if they overlap, with non-overlapping confidence intervals being considered statistically significant.

Background and further information

The profile contains where available data for sub-ICBs, ICBs, NHS England regions, upper tier local authorities, lower tier local authorities, statistical regions and England. Further details about the profile methodology are available within the definitions section of the Vision profile.

For queries relating to this document, please contact: healthcare.variation@dhsc.gov.uk.