In focus: Radical changes needed to avert eye health crisis

Local health commissioners have been urged to radically change their provision of eye care services for an aging population and in order to make full use of newly available treatments.

The message was delivered this week at an inaugural national eye health summit organised by a group of optical bodies at the Abbey Centre, London.

Ahead of the event, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCO) said eye health leaders agreed the current system needed a radical reform and redesign.

This included expanding services by transferring ‘more routine and step-down care’ into high-street optical practices and ‘expanding the role of the multi-disciplined team of eye care professionals’.