Opticians around the country have played their part in this year’s National Eye Health Week (NEHW), which is on September 24-30. Specsavers and RNIB join them, as they launch a new marketing initiative to encourage more people in the UK to prioritise their eye health and get their eyes tested. This campaign is supported by Eye Health UK, which organises NEHW and is backed up by research from the RNIB that finds 50% of sight loss is avoidable.
It can be seen on television, billboards and in newspapers, and is called ‘Don’t lose the picture.’ It features a blank space where a picture would have been and words encouraging viewers to book an eye test.
Sarah Marquis, marketing category owner of health and expertise at Specsavers, says: ‘We’re thrilled to continue support RNIB in the great work it does in helping to eradicate avoidable sight loss. Across a number of familiar and well-loved media touchpoints, we will be removing the images or videos that consumers expect to see, and replacing them with something altogether less inspiring. We hope to drive home how much people would miss their sight if it was gone, and remind them of the importance of a regular eye test.’
Doug Perkins (pictured), co-founder of Specsavers, says: ‘Yet more needs to be done to make eye health a priority in the UK – which is why for the third year in a row we are in partnership with RNIB in the biggest yet eye health awareness campaign in NEHW.’
Eye Health UK research from 2016 shows that 83% of people say that sight is the sense that they would least like to lose, yet fewer than 10% of smokers realise that there is a link between smoking and sight loss.
David Cartwright, chairman of Eye Health UK, the charity that runs NEHW alongside Vision Matters, says: ‘To raise vision and eye health up the public’s health agenda the profession needs a high-profile vehicle to deliver generic messages at a level that will engage, motivate and support people to make positive changes to their behaviour, eg having regular eye tests, and their lifestyle, eg quit smoking and eat healthily. NEHW is well-placed to do this. The initiative provides a unique opportunity for the whole optical sector, and others, to join forces to encourage more people to have regular eye tests and make lifestyle choices that benefit their eye health. By working together to support NEHW we can improve the UK’s eye health, contribute towards a reduction in avoidable blindness and enhance people’s general wellbeing.’
Vision Matters hopes that this year’s campaign will take a step towards improving the state of the nation’s eye health. Last year, 58% of the opticians it surveyed reported an increase in eye test bookings around NEHW.
Cartwright (pictured) says: ‘Conversations about eye health will take place at thousands of supporter events across the country. Each of these conversations will reinforce and amplify messages communicated via our national outreach programme which includes a media relations campaign, eye health supplements placed in The Sunday Times and The Guardian, the publication of Vista, the promotion of an animated infomercial produced in conjunction with the NHS and an online counter recording every person diagnosed with macular disease during the initiative.’
According to research carried out for NEHW, 41% of people who do not have regular eye examinations say they do not go because they think their eyes are fine and 13.8 million people do not have a regular eye test every year or every two years.
A joint report by RNIB and Specsavers states that 25% of people in the country are not having regular eye exams.
Giles Edmonds, Specsavers’ clinical services director, says: ‘Raising the profile of eye health and encouraging people to have regular eye tests is vital to help reduce these numbers. Specsavers invests in marketing year-round to highlight the importance of eye health and encourages people to have an eye test; this peaks in September to coincide with NEHW.’
Edmonds adds: ‘Supported by National Eye Health Week (Vision Matters) and RNIB, our 2018 campaign encourages people who have never had an eye test before to do so. It’s attention-grabbing and deliberately thought-provoking.’
He recognises that there are many reasons why people do not seem to bother with eye exams, including a lack of awareness of what a test involves, potential high costs, not wanting to appear old and believing that there is nothing wrong with their eyes if their vision is of a high enough standard for them to get by. When people can borrow a pair of glasses from someone else or just buy off-the-shelf glasses, it can be difficult to convince them otherwise. To encourage people to make an eye examination appointment, Specsavers is offering free eye tests to people who have not had one before during NEHW.
Optician contacted several independent practices to see if they were participating in NEHW, but they either were not aware that it was happening or had not planned to engage with it and hold any activities. An independent practice that is getting involved is Anne Gill Eyewear in Portsmouth. Practice manager Anne Gill and her team are focusing on low vision aids and have completed an interview with a patient which will be submitted online. The team will be celebrating the first birthday of Poppy the guide dog with a tea party and will be posting information on their Facebook page daily about eye health and what patients can do.
‘We want to highlight the importance of regular sight tests and also promote the use of an OCT scanner for preventing eye health issues. As it’s so instant, we can use social media to respond to what’s going on in the moment,’ says Gill.
She believes NEHW is not communicated early enough to the optical sector. ‘I personally need several weeks to plan something like this and get it to our local press. More time would be helpful for planning, as I spend my life constantly surprised by things like this online.’
Anis Rehman, dispensing optician and branch manager of Carpenters Optometrists in Weston-super-Mare, is highlighting NEHW to his patients by decorating the practice window with posters and handing out leaflets to all who come in for appointments, as well as the neighbouring shops. ‘I’m also going to write about it on our social media pages, this should increase the awareness of the campaign,’ he says.
Rehman says people working in the optical sector are usually aware of when NEHW is. ‘I do think more awareness is needed for the campaign though, as it is national. It could be advertised more, maybe on mainstream media like television or online and weeks ahead of when it takes place, like Comic Relief is.’
