Title:
Attitudes to eye health among GPs and optometrists
Authors:
Sarah Owen and Amy Phillips
Publisher:
Dr Foster Intelligence for RNIB
Year of publication:
2010
Background:
Almost 2 million people in the UK are living with sight loss. The associated cost of this in 2008 was £22 billion. However, over 50 per cent of sight loss can be avoided.
Given this situation you would expect the prevention of sight loss to be top of mind among health care professionals when meeting their patients.
To understand the current situation RNIB commissioned Dr Foster Intelligence to understand the opinions and knowledge on eye health among GPs and optometrists.
Key findings:
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GPs understand the importance of eye health but are often not confident in their ability to recognise the symptoms of many common eye conditions. For example, 53 per cent said they were not confident in their ability to recognise the most common cause of blindness (age-related macular degeneration). In addition, only a third (31 per cent) believe they are well informed about the needs of people with visual impairments.
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Above all else, GPs feel that they need training and guidance to overcome these barriers.
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Optometrists are better informed about eye conditions as you'd expect. However, although 94 per cent feel that eye health promotion is a vital part of their role, on average they only spend 12 per cent of their time actually doing this.
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In order to balance this situation optometrists would like more information to give to patients and more joined-up working with other local services.
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