77-day wait for an eye appointment

SEVENTY-SEVEN days is the average wait for an eye appointment in France, according to a new study.

In many departments, the situation is worse. People living in Loire have to be patient for more than seven months, according to a survey of 2,643 opthalmologists.

People living in cities are best served. Residents of Paris and Marseille only have to wait 25 days for an appointment, while Bordelais must be patient for just two more days.

The situation is less impressive in Rennes (111 days), Toulouse (92 days) and Lyon (82 days).

Across the departments, Hauts-de-Seine comes out best with an average waiting time of 33 days. Alpes-Maritimes is close behind on 35 days.

At the other end of the scale, residents in Loire are losers in the postcode lottery, where the wait for an eye test can be 205 days. In Finistère patients have to wait up to 190 days for an appointment, while Isère is third-worst with 186 days.

The study reveals that 27% of patients are seen within one month, 29% between one month and three months, and 18% between three and six months. Up to 11% of patients, however, are forced to wait more than six months for an appointment.

The long wait in Loire is made worse by the number of missed appointments, the survey suggests. Up to 65% of patients fail to attend at agreed times, opthalmologists said.

In Isère, where a lengthy waiting list was also reported, 38% of appointments were missed.

In Meurthe-et-Moselle, as many as 59% of patients failed to make booked appointments, the Yssup Research study found, while a 46% absentee-patient rate was reported in Moselle, and 36% in Ille-et-Vilaine.

Photo:Les Black