Professional Matters Optometry & Dispensing
NHS Scotland Ophthalmic workload statistics
NHS Scotland Ophthalmic workload statistics
Statistics as at year ending March 2025
Main points
In 2024/25
- Approximately 2.44 million eye examinations were undertaken in Scotland, an increase of 0.71% compared to 2023/24.
- 93.4% of patients receiving an eye examination were not referred for further investigation.
- The proportion of the population receiving routine (primary) eye examination was 29.0% in SIMD 1 (most deprived) and 34.4% in SIMD 5 (least deprived).
Image captionNumber of NHS funded eye examinations (millions), Scotland, by year; 2006/07 – 2024/251
1 In April 2010 and October 2018, changes in legislation reduced the frequency and circumstances under which a primary examination can be undertaken. If these conditions are not met, only a supplementary examination can be claimed for payment.
Data reported in this publication is taken from claim forms in the year in which the claim was paid.
Additionally demographic information on patients is available throughout this report.
See Ophthalmic Report for further information.
