Moneo writes: Taking our broader health responsibilities seriously

Just recently a report was published showing the highly alarming increase in type 2 diabetes in children. Currently more than 600 children are being treated for the condition with 110 more cases being found among the under 19s in 2015-16 compared to two years previously. The youngest affected are aged between five and nine. These results were described as a ‘hugely disturbing trend’ and council leaders said that urgent action on childhood obesity was required.

So what has any of that got to do with optometry? The simple fact is that diabetes long term is one of the leading causes for loss of functional vision and the earlier diabetes starts the greater the risk to eyesight for that individual. As optometrists we should therefore be at the forefront in preventing that vision failure onset. But does our job start at the point when a patient is diagnosed with diabetes? The clear answer is no. We have a duty of care to all our patients and that duty extends beyond just making sure they can read our letter chart clearly.