Eye exam should be part of 'life checks'

Optics has attempted to maintain its high profile in Parliament by contacting health minister Patricia Hewitt on the government's new white paper Our health, our care, our say.

The professional bodies have picked up on the white paper's emphasis on moving services from hospitals into the community to voice their view of how regular eye examinations could prevent hospitalisation due to falls and other incidents such as driving accidents.

In a letter to the health secretary, FODO chief executive David Hewlett, on behalf of the four bodies (ABDO, AOP, the College of Optometrists and FODO), says that eye tests could play a vital part in the new NHS 'life check' proposed by the white paper.

'The single, most effective change the government could make to promote good eye healthwould be to include a question about eye examinations in the first (self-assessment) part of the new NHS Life Check,' Hewlett states. Other areas where optometry could help were set out in the letter:

Making optical practices the first point of call for urgent eye care problems (eg red eye) as part of the new urgent care service strategy
Working with hospital ophthalmology departments to treat and support as many people as possible in optical practices in the community, especially patients with stable, long-term conditions

Highlighting the importance of eye health and the availability of free NHS sight tests (including domiciliary sight tests) for older people in the National Clinical Director for Older People's planned Next Steps document and in Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs)

Including eye health in the Common Assessment Framework for people with complex needs.

Hewlett congratulated the health secretary on the white paper. 'It resonates with everything we have been saying on behalf of our patients and optical practitioners for many years,' he stated.