The Welsh Conservatives have said that the number of patients potentially at risk of irreversible eye damage is an 'abysmal failure.'

This is in response to the latest eye care waiting times for Welsh NHS outpatients, which reveals that 51.4 per cent or 78,443 at-risk ophthalmology patients are waiting beyond the target time.

Welsh Conservative shadow health minister, Russell George MS, expressed concern, saying: "The fact that fewer than half of eye care patients are still not being seen within the target time represents an abysmal failure by the Labour Welsh Government."

The grave concern arises from clinical expert's advice that any delay in eye care could lead to irreversible harm, thus placing thousands of Welsh patients at risk due to the government's failure to act.

It comes as 25 per cent of patients in the health risk factor R1 category - the category most at risk of irreversible harm - were waiting beyond the target time for an appointment in February.

Mr George added: "If an eye care patient isn’t seen within the target time, clinical experts are clear that those patients are at risk of irreversible harm.

"Labour’s failure to act is putting tens of thousands of Welsh patients at risk."

Rather than creating more politicians, the Welsh Conservatives believe that "a substantial workforce plan" needs to be implemented, including a tuition fee refund scheme, as a means of recruiting more doctors and opticians.