Public health professionals

The Government has recognised that more needs to be done to prevent avoidable sight loss.

In England, the Public Health Outcomes Framework - Healthy lives, healthy living: Improving outcomes and supporting transparency - includes a preventable sight loss indicator. As a professional in public health, you are in a key position to help prevent avoidable sight loss, by commissioning effective eye health services.

Sight loss: A public health priority

Our guide – Sight loss: A public health priority – helps to explain the preventable sight loss indicator, outline the resources available to help professionals accurately understand and commission primary and secondary eye care services based on local need and explain how improving eye health can improve outcomes for a broad range of health priorities that are linked to sight loss, including falls, diabetes and social isolation.

Download the guide:

Our support for public health professionals

Here are some of the ways we can help you to reduce the number of people losing their sight unnecessarily and also reduce the impact of other health issues related to sight loss.

Improving support at diagnosis

Eye Clinic Liaison Officers (ECLOs), or similar early intervention support staff, can signpost people to the support they need to adapt to life with sight loss. Over 96 per cent of ophthalmologists report that an ECLO is beneficial to both patients and eye clinic staff for supporting the certification and registration process - the data set used to measure the preventable sight loss indicator. Find out how the ECLO can help you.

Resources for commissioning eye care services in England

Access resources to understand local population needs and commission relevant eye care services, including:

Public Health Outcomes Framework data tool - allows you to compare your local authority against others and benchmark against the England average
RNIB sight loss data tool - gives factual information about sight loss for each region and local authority in England, including prevalence rates and service provision
JSNA guidance - joint strategic needs assessment guidance to support effective commissioning
Commissioning guidance - support commissioners through the commissioning cycle for eye care and sight loss prevention and to deliver the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme.

Services for supporting blind and partially sighted people

To find out more about our Community Engagement Projects, including information about the equity profiles that underpinned local interventions, have a look at our Research in progress on our Knowledge Hub.