Government lays out eye-care strategy

Following a review conducted by the Department of Health (DoH), the government has set out new proposals for opthalmic services and announced that it is to launch a toolkit for their commissioning in the UK.

The DoH review claimed that there existed potential for eye-care professionals to work in conjunciton with hospitals in primary care to develop more responsive services for patients with glaucoma and other eye conditions.

It added that there was scope for an enhanced partnership between the NHS and the third sector to integrate services for patients with vision difficulties and to generally improve eye health in the country.

Rosie Winterton, health minister, said: “As the demand for NHS eye care services grows with our ageing population, we need to be sure that the NHS is ready to respond.

“We have world-renowned hospital services and some of the most respected eye hospitals in the world.”

She added that there was a chance to develop a broader range of community-based services in eye care that will make better use of the available primary care resources and skills.

In June 2006, David Whitaker, professor of vision science at the University of Bradford, requested that the role of optometrists in the NHS be expanded, describing such a move as “both viable and necessary”.