Press Release issued: 28 March 2012.
A high profile conference of up to 100 eye-health specialists, government officials and sight loss charities will meet in Stirling today to gauge the progress of a drive to eradicate preventable sight loss in Scotland.
The Scottish Vision Strategy was launched in 2008 as part of a global initiative to push through the most ambitious eye-health targets ever set by developed countries.
Although Scotland remains a world leader in some aspects of eye-care, the number of Scots who are blind or partially sighted is projected to double over the next two decades. This would mean over 360,000 people with significant sight loss, mainly due to our ageing population and persistently poor health record.
Already one in six hospital appointments in some Scottish hospitals are for eye problems.
Today's conference, to be addressed by Health Minister Michael Matheson, will review the strategy's progress to date against a backdrop of deepening spending cuts.
The Scottish Vision Strategy was developed by a wide alliance of health and social care professionals, voluntary organisations, civil servants and service users. It aims to improve eye health, eliminate avoidable sight loss, and help those with a visual impairment enhance their independence. For service providers, the strategy calls for speedy referrals and clear routes to accessing care.
John Legg, director of sight loss charity RNIB Scotland, said: "The Scottish Vision Strategy set its targets high from the outset. But this review will hear that we have made tangible advances, and in some cases big steps forward. In other areas, we still have work to do. But, overall, this is a very encouraging assessment of how far we have come in four years."
Legg points to a new £6.6m Scottish Government initiative to build high-tech digital links between high street opticians and ophthalmology departments over the next ten years. A pilot scheme by NHS Fife, the first of its kind in the UK, resulted in much faster referrals for patients who needed immediate hospital treatment and certainly saved sight in some cases.
"It's much more cost-effective to spend money preventing sight loss than looking after someone who may face decades of life with a visual impairment," he said. "The Christie Commission reckoned that as much as 40 per cent of all public service spending could be avoided by a preventative approach. In recommending spending now to minimise the costs of future health and social problems, it nailed a crucial truth. Focusing on consequences rather than causes has a high cost for society and a high cost for public services."
As well as this, RNIB Scotland is urging that free eye-examinations - introduced in Scotland in 2006 as a UK first - are preserved. These can also detect general health conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure which can lead to sight problems later on. Last year, 1.8 million people had free eye examinations, and 80,000 were referred on for further potentially sight-saving treatment.
Recent research, however, has emphasised that more must be done to get people on low incomes to go for regular examinations.