Chris Bennett: Building a buzz around eye care

I’ve got nothing against bees but, it would appear, they are among the many things standing in the way of joined-up eye care policy.

The melittological reference came as Specsavers and the RNIB launched their latest report into the nation’s eye health. It came amid renewed calls for public education, national leadership and joined up NHS thinking.

The report highlighted not only the growing issue of age-related eye conditions but also public complacency, the inadequacy of NHS structures and the lack of political will. Given those factors it seems harsh to single out Apis mellifera.

It’s ironic that such a useful, industrious creature renowned for co-operation and social cohesion should be cited as an impediment to co-operation in eye care. Sadly it did so as the realisation that politics is likely to provide the route the changing those broken NHS structures.