Since most eye diseases are age-related we are all at risk of sight loss. At present there are 1.8 million people in the UK who live with sight loss, half of them needlessly due to treatable eye conditions or simply because they need a correct prescription for glasses or contact lenses. We feel that preventing avoidable sight loss and improving provision for blind and partially sighted people are part of the same challenge. Sight loss has to move up the political agenda if we are to achieve lasting change.
RNIB wants an end to all avoidable sight loss by 2020. Over 50 per cent of sight loss in the UK is avoidable.
We will campaign to:
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increase the take-up of regular eye tests
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ensure new treatments are delivered on the NHS
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move prevention of sight loss significantly up Government health priorities
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ensure screening programmes reach at-risk groups.
Campaign success
Access to AMD Treatments 2008 - after a two and half year battle led by RNIB, NICE issues Guidance on the use of anti-VEGF drugs to treat the largest cause of blindness in the UK. This is a fantastic result that means that the torment faced by elderly people, forced to either spend their life savings on private treatment or go blind is over.