Lords debate eye care

A debate on the need for eye health to be included in the government's public health agenda took place in the House of Lords on March 29.

Secured by Lord Low, co-chair of the All Party Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment, the issue had cross-party support.

However, the minister responsible for optics, Earl Howe, evaded directly answering whether the government would include the level of preventable sight loss in the proposed Healthy Lives, Healthy People strategy. He stated that the prevention of sight loss would be 'an aim of work undertaken across the new public health system'.

Lord Low of Dalston questioned whether government also had plans to communicate that half of the sight problems of around two million people in the UK could be prevented by regular sight tests and early diagnosis to local commissioners, health and social care professionals and the public. Earl Howe answered that the government proposed that local authorities would have primary responsibility for the health improvement of their local populations and could choose, if they wished, to promote eye health.