National Eye Health Week 2024 ends on a high note

National Eye Health Week (NEHW) organisers, Eye Health UK, marked the annual eye care awareness campaign (September 23-29) with a study highlighting the importance of the industry’s mission, as a staggering 19 million UK adults (36%) failed to get regular eye tests in the past two years as recommended.

Also, 18% of over 65-year-old UK adults had not had regular checkups in the past two years, while 4% of all adults cannot remember when they last had an eye test, according to 2,000 adults in the UK surveyed on September 6-10.

David Cartwright, optometrist and chair of Eye Health UK, explained the need for eye tests to detect underlying health problems: ‘Sight-threatening eye disease and conditions like hypertension can present with no, or few, noticeable symptoms. If caught early though they can be treated, or successfully managed, before they become a problem.