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 Spire Shawfair Park Hospital taken from my last annual appraisal (7.1.26) are:

142 cataract surgeries were personally performed. Visual outcome data was based on returned postoperative optician refraction forms (100/142, which comprised 70% of all surgery). Of these, 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 recorded best corrected visual acuity below 6/12 due to pre-existing amblyopia (lazy eye). In addition, 87% achieved 6/12 or better unaided vision without glasses. Among patients who had both unaided distance and near visual acuity recorded (49 cases), 69% achieved unaided monocular vision of 6/12 or better and N10 near vision (moderate sized print).

Biometric accuracy was within 1 dioptre in 99% of cases, compared with a national benchmarking figure of 85%¹. All 142 procedures were performed using phacoemulsification, with a posterior capsular tear (pct) rate of 0.7%, in line with national audit standards¹.

¹ National Cataract Audit 2024

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