Dr Mark Wright

Outpatient appointments at Spire Shawfair Park Hospital.

I am an ophthalmic surgeon, based in Edinburgh, with more than 25 years experience as a consultant. I was appointed as a consultant based in the Edinburgh Eye Pavilion in 1999 and have practised at Spire Shawfair since it opened. I only offer cataract surgery and use anaesthetic drops (no jags!). I consult and operate on a Wednesday with virtually all patients offered a date for surgery within two weeks at the time of their initial consultation.

98% of those patients requiring bilateral cataract surgery in 2025 were given the option of having both eyes done on the same day.

For uninsured patients I offer the standard cataract package (local anaesthetic day case surgery using a modern folding lens implant) for £2,000/eye (pricing correct as of January 2026). Patients with significant astigmatism benefit from the use of Toric lens implants with the package currently priced at £3,176/eye. I’m a registered provider with all the leading insurers.

My results from Shawfair hospital taken from my last annual appraisal (7.1.26) are:

a visual outcomes
142 cataract surgeries personally performed. Visual results based upon all available returned optician postoperative refraction forms (100/142) which comprised 70% of all surgery. 98% (98/100) of eyes had better than or equal to 6/12 (DVLA driving standard) best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 4-6/52 postoperatively (po) benchmarking figure 92%¹

Two patients had bcva < 6/12 which was due to a pre-existing problem; both significantly amblyopic (lazy eye). 87% (87/100) were equal to or better than 6/12 unaided i.e. without glasses (u/a).

Of those patients who had both an u/a distance & near va recorded (49/100) 69% (34/49) had an u/a monocular vision of better than or equal to 6/12 & N10 (moderate sized print).

b biometric accuracy
99% (99/100) of Shawfair’s biometry was within 1 diopter, benchmarking figure 85%¹

c complications (all 142 cases included)
100% were by phakoemulsification. 0.7% (1/142) posterior capsular tear (pct), a frequently cited measurement of surgical dexterity, benchmarking figure 1.1%¹

References
¹ National Cataract Audit 2024

I have taught extensively; I co-author Ophthalmology Pocket Tutor, the third edition of which has just been published.