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facebook.com/opticianonline IN FOCUS ational Eye Health Week (NEHW) organisers, Eye Health UK, marked the annual eye care awareness campaign (September 23-29) with a study highlighting the importance of the industry’s mission, as a staggering 19 million UK adults (36%) failed to get regular eye tests in the past two years as recommended. National Eye Health Week 2024 ends on a high note N Lucy Patchett reports on strong involvement across the profession during the awareness week Also, 18% of over 65-year-old UK adults had not had regular checkups in the past two years, while 4% of all adults cannot remember when they last had an eye test, according to 2,000 adults in the UK surveyed on September 6-10. David Cartwright, optometrist and chair of Eye Health UK, explained the need for eye tests to detect underlying health problems: ‘Sight-threatening eye disease and conditions like hypertension can present with no, or few, noticeable symptoms. If caught early though they can be treated, or successfully managed, before they become a problem. ‘High-street optometrists play a crucial role in improving health opportunities for all. As well as caring for the nation’s eye health and preventing avoidable sight loss, optometrists can direct people to get the help they need for a wide range of illnesses.’ This year’s themes included: routine sight tests and vision screening; enhanced primary eye care services; keeping children and young people’s eyes healthy; colour vision; sight after 60 years old; affordable eye care; and live well to see well. The study raised the concern of eye care cost perceptions causing a barrier to regular checkups, which aligned with this year’s NEHW campaign theme of affordable eye care. More than half of people “We have already seen the positive benefits of eye health innovation in Scotland, Wales and Nor thern Ireland. A nationally commissioned NHS urgent eye health ser vice in England would end this postcode lotter y.” (55%) living in households with annual income of less than 10K had not received an eye test in the past two years versus just one third (33%) living in a household with an annual income over £90K. People from low-income households, men and people from minority ethnic backgrounds were also most likely to have skipped a recent eye test, according to the survey. While some may feel held back by costs in the current economic climate, Eye Health UK emphasised that sight tests are free on the NHS for more than 30 million people in the UK, including children, over-60s and those on income-related benefits. Cartwright added: ‘NHS-funded provision covers a range of eye care services. Free sight tests and optical vouchers are available for many, including those on low incomes and people at increased risk of poor eye health due to age or medical history. People unable to leave home unaided are entitled to free domiciliary eye tests; while ICBs (Integrated Care Boards) or local NHS area teams commission translation and interpretation services, ensuring a patient’s language or communication skills are not barriers to eye care.’ Specsavers, a sponsor of NEHW, surveyed around 1,500 UK adults to investigate eye health issues further as part of the event. The research showed that 94% of people would be likely to use an NHS-funded urgent eye health check if it was available to them and 55% of people have faced difficulties speaking to or seeing their GP – with more than one in 10 waiting more than a month. Specsavers has advocated for enabling the primary eye care sector to deliver more services under a nationwide NHS-funded Community Urgent Eye Care Service (Cues) to free up GP and hospital resources and prevent patients from being impacted by such ‘postcode lottery healthcare’. Specsavers’ director of professional advancement, Paul Morris, said: ‘Primary care optometrists already provide access to vital eye care, supporting the NHS, but also stand ready and able to do even more to support the nation’s eye health. It would save hospital and GP appointments, easing pressure on them. That would be good news for patients, the wider health service and the country. ‘We have already seen the positive benefits of eye health 6 OPTICIAN 4 October 2024 opticianonline.net
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VIEWPOINT Insisting on our viability MONEO WRITES 8 OPTICIAN 4 October 2024 It is often heard from the business community that the most important thing that a business needs to succeed is stability, a solid base from which to plan the future. This should involve planning future investment to allow success for that business in the years ahead. Certainty allows for strategic planning and accurate workforce planning as well as secure financial forecasting. Certainty also allows for accurate and necessary resource and activity planning. The NHS, over the years, has never provided that base in the field of primary eye healthcare. This has meant that not only has the visual health of the nation’s population suffered, but businesses have often been unable to plan ahead in a secure and confident way when it comes to providing high quality eye and systemic healthcare services. It could be argued that this is particularly the case with small independent practices, especially with staff planning. For far too long now the remuneration for the basic ‘testing’ of people’s sight has been knowingly grossly underfunded by successive governments. Why they chose to compromise the nation’s eyesight and visual health in this way we may never know or understand. Following the publication of the government report on “Only by ensuring we can communicate rapidly with our colleagues in secondar y care can we plan the structure of new ser vices efficiently.” the state of the NHS, it will come as no surprise to most people just what a parlous state it is in. Literally billions of pounds have been wasted over the years and so much of that waste has been seen in the eye care sector. Continuous refusal by NHS managers and commissioners to accept the abilities of optometrists and innovative commissioning of primary eye healthcare services has contributed to failures in sorting out eye healthcare needs at a local level. Still to this day, some people walk around in the community unaware that they are slowly losing their sight due to glaucoma. Many of these will go on to be reliant on state benefits because of this, which is truly a scandal. So where does this so-called revelation on the state of the NHS leave us in the world of optometry? For many years now, we have provided firm evidence as to how optometry can contribute to delivering higher quality eye care services and better preventive services to allow earlier intervention to prevent sight loss. This has often fallen on deaf ears or internal government ignorance. With the publication of this report seems to come the recognition and the desire to change the way the NHS operates with a switch from hospital to community services and a move to prevention rather than cure. This should be music to our ears, but will it be? There is some promising early evidence of a desire to involve optometry in new services, if Wes Streeting is to be taken at his word. However, we are yet to see how this will play out. There is also, yet again, a recognition of the awful state of IT within the NHS. If optometry is to play its part in salvaging the NHS, two things are vital from the outset. Firstly, financially viable funding of all services including the NHS sight test and, secondly, truly viable connectivity between primary and secondary care services to allow fast efficient transfer of patient information and data, including image transfer. The first thing our professional bodies must secure from the government is a firm commitment to these two matters. Only by ensuring any services provided in optometric primary care are funded in a financially viable way can we, as a profession, plan for provision of those services. Only by ensuring we can communicate rapidly with our colleagues in secondary care can we plan the structure of new services efficiently. We must secure these undertakings from the department at the outset of any service planning negotiations if we are to make progress and truly reform eye care services in the NHS. In the past, we have been so desirous of pleasing the government of the day that we sacrificed the one thing that allows for stability and delivery of good services, and that is financial viability. This must not be allowed to happen again and our professional bodies carry the responsibility of ensuring this does not happen. If we as businesses are to plan properly for the future, we must have the assurance of financial viability and the assurance of stability in services. We can look to ensure our systems, our equipment, our training and our staff are fully prepared. Without these things in place at the outset, we are heading for major problems again. It is incumbent on our representatives to secure these things before anything further should be considered. We know we can deliver a modern service that is more efficient and vastly more cost-effective, and we are ready to do that, but bankrupt practices offer no service at all. If the private sector can do it, so can the NHS. But if it chooses not to, then maybe the only way to go in the future will be to deliver those services outside the NHS. • opticianonline.net

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IN FOCUS

ational Eye Health Week (NEHW) organisers, Eye Health UK, marked the annual eye care awareness campaign (September 23-29) with a study highlighting the importance of the industry’s mission, as a staggering 19 million UK adults (36%) failed to get regular eye tests in the past two years as recommended.

National Eye Health Week 2024 ends on a high note N

Lucy Patchett reports on strong involvement across the profession during the awareness week

Also, 18% of over 65-year-old UK adults had not had regular checkups in the past two years, while 4% of all adults cannot remember when they last had an eye test, according to 2,000 adults in the UK surveyed on September 6-10.

David Cartwright, optometrist and chair of Eye Health UK, explained the need for eye tests to detect underlying health problems: ‘Sight-threatening eye disease and conditions like hypertension can present with no, or few, noticeable symptoms. If caught early though they can be treated, or successfully managed, before they become a problem.

‘High-street optometrists play a crucial role in improving health opportunities for all. As well as caring for the nation’s eye health and preventing avoidable sight loss, optometrists can direct people to get the help they need for a wide range of illnesses.’

This year’s themes included: routine sight tests and vision screening; enhanced primary eye care services; keeping children and young people’s eyes healthy; colour vision; sight after 60 years old; affordable eye care; and live well to see well.

The study raised the concern of eye care cost perceptions causing a barrier to regular checkups, which aligned with this year’s NEHW campaign theme of affordable eye care. More than half of people

“We have already seen the positive benefits of eye health innovation in Scotland, Wales and Nor thern Ireland. A nationally commissioned NHS urgent eye health ser vice in England would end this postcode lotter y.”

(55%) living in households with annual income of less than 10K had not received an eye test in the past two years versus just one third (33%) living in a household with an annual income over £90K. People from low-income households, men and people from minority ethnic backgrounds were also most likely to have skipped a recent eye test, according to the survey. While some may feel held back by costs in the current economic climate, Eye Health UK emphasised that sight tests are free on the NHS for more than 30 million people in the UK, including children, over-60s and those on income-related benefits.

Cartwright added: ‘NHS-funded provision covers a range of eye care services. Free sight tests and optical vouchers are available for many, including those on low incomes and people at increased risk of poor eye health due to age or medical history. People unable to leave home unaided are entitled to free domiciliary eye tests; while ICBs (Integrated Care Boards) or local NHS area teams commission translation and interpretation services, ensuring a patient’s language or communication skills are not barriers to eye care.’

Specsavers, a sponsor of NEHW, surveyed around 1,500 UK adults to investigate eye health issues further as part of the event. The research showed that 94% of people would be likely to use an NHS-funded urgent eye health check if it was available to them and 55% of people have faced difficulties speaking to or seeing their GP – with more than one in 10 waiting more than a month.

Specsavers has advocated for enabling the primary eye care sector to deliver more services under a nationwide NHS-funded Community Urgent Eye Care Service (Cues) to free up GP and hospital resources and prevent patients from being impacted by such ‘postcode lottery healthcare’.

Specsavers’ director of professional advancement, Paul Morris, said: ‘Primary care optometrists already provide access to vital eye care, supporting the NHS, but also stand ready and able to do even more to support the nation’s eye health. It would save hospital and GP appointments, easing pressure on them. That would be good news for patients, the wider health service and the country.

‘We have already seen the positive benefits of eye health

6 OPTICIAN 4 October 2024

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