Profession urged to focus on the elderly

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is calling on the profession to raise awareness of optical vouchers for the elderly after a new report by the charity revealed that six million older people in the UK are failing to have regular eye tests.

The RNIB's Older People and Eye Tests, report was published on Wednesday, to coincide with its Eye Test Action Day and was based on a survey of 5,000 over-60s. The survey found that nearly half, (47 per cent) of the over-60s are failing to have an annual eye test. According to the report authors, the three main reasons given by older people for not having frequent eye tests were: the cost of replacing spectacles, the belief that there is nothing wrong with their vision and the difficulty in getting to and from the opticians.