Press Release issued: 18 February 2011.
With the number of Scots affected by sight loss projected to double over the next two decades to 400,000, the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland has launched its manifesto today for the Holyrood elections in May.
The charity says its proposals could help contain this explosive increase while transforming the lives of people who are already blind and partially sighted.
The projected increase is due to our ageing population and persistently poor health record - rates of diabetic retinopathy for example, a leading cause of blindness, have rocketed. Already up to one in six out-patient appointments at some Scottish hospitals are for eye-care.
In response, RNIB Scotland is pressing all political parties to preserve free eye-examinations - introduced in 2006 as a UK first - as a vital step in diagnosing preventable sight loss early on. Last year, 1.78 million people had free eye examinations, and 80,000 were referred on for further potentially sight-saving treatment.
Director John Legg said: "The current annual cost of sight problems to the public sector is around £17,600 per person - roughly equivalent to ten hospital admissions.
"The financial cost - never mind the huge personal cost - of caring for twice as many people with sight loss would place an enormous strain on our health and social care budgets. So we need to do everything we can now to contain this rise, by treating sight loss conditions as early as possible when they can be arrested or even reversed."
For those conditions that can't, the RNIB Scotland manifesto is calling for people to receive better emotional support. "Too often," said Legg, "people are told the name and nature of their condition, and what practical aids are available. But they get no help in coming to terms with the prospect of losing their vision - with what can be devastating news."
Legg said the charity's manifesto acknowledged the austere financial backdrop against which the next Scottish Government would have to operate. "However, free eye examinations are already part of the health budget," he went on, "and we are simply asking that this is retained."
Other measures in the manifesto - most of which the charity says are cost-neutral - would better integrate those with sight loss into education and employment. Public bodies, it points out, could deploy a rarely used European Union ruling that allows them to reserve contracts to social businesses that employ workers with disabilities.
"Many of the other things we're asking for wouldn't necessarily cost anything extra. If every public body in Scotland used the EU's 'Article 19' directive then this would give a massive boost to employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Likewise, ensuring that all schoolchildren with sight loss get school-books in accessible formats just requires more forward-planning and awareness of their needs.
"So a lot of it is simply doing things better. But where we do need to increase spending, it's spending now to save much more money later on.
"As a society, we are going to find that sight loss, and all the attendant problems this brings, will be much more common place than what we are currently used to. Spend-to-save may be a tough message in today's economic climate, but we are calling on politicians to bite the bullet: it does make sense."