Scottish eye care, the envy of eye care providers south of the border, may be brought back down to earth with suggestions that public spending cutbacks may see the end of free for all eye examination.
Optometry Scotland and RNIB Scotland have, understandably, responded strongly to the suggestion, pointing out that it is not just about immediate cost savings, and that as well as saving sight, the early detection of sight-threatening disease saves health and social care costs further along the line.
Encouraging the public to take their eye care seriously would appear to have worked in Scotland to date, with the uptake of eye examinations rising by 6 per cent from March 2008 to March 2009, as well as an increase in referrals of people with suspected serious eye disease. Yet, when you look at the savings that could be made by removing the free-to-all entitlement, described as £91m by 2011-2012 in The Scotsman, it's not difficult to see why public sector and health chiefs are keen to rein in the spending.
In an ideal world, health would be valued over budgetary concerns, but easy savings seem to be the order of the day in these straitened times, and long-term improvements in public health are likely to come a distant second.
