The optical profession often contends with lack of data and awareness around public eye health.
However, the arrival of National Eye Health Week (September 24-30) and World Sight Day (October 11) in close succession has resulted in a deluge of information and coverage.
National Eye Health Week (NEHW) was embraced by UK optical practices late last month, not least as a tool to welcome more patients through the door and book regular eye exams. Once again organised by Eye Health UK, coverage included the publishing of a consumer lifestyle magazine, national newspaper supplement and a dedicated debate in Scottish Parliament.
Co-ordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, World Sight Day 2018 had the theme of Eye Care Everywhere, and again had a wide international reach.
Optician has rounded up five noteworthy developments and conversation points from each of the awareness campaigns.
National Eye Health week
Power of publishing
The co-ordinators of National Eye Health week this year invested in a new consumer lifestyle magazine called Vista, while a further supplement was booked in the Sunday Times in late September.
Eye Health UK also used the campaign to highlight UK areas where poor lifestyle habits and inadequate health screening are putting residents at serious risk of sight loss.
Releasing a map of lifestyle habits, areas of concern included Barking and Dagenham, Reading, Swansea, Nottingham and Newcastle. The map was created by Experian, correlating key factors including eye test uptake, smoking, exercise, obesity, healthy eating and alcohol consumption.
‘In towns and cities like Bristol, Liverpool, Luton and Manchester we are seeing a worrying number of people failing to take up their entitlement to free NHS sight tests and displaying high levels of smoking and obesity – two lifestyle factors linked to sight loss,’ said Eye Health UK chairman David Cartwright.
Matter of hygiene
A survey commissioned by the College of Optometrists to mark National Eye Health Week raised concerns about the current state of patient hygiene when using contact lenses and eye drops.
Research among 395 wearers showed almost a third did not always wash their hands before inserting contact lenses. Around half of all users of eye drops had never been shown how to use them correctly and sometimes missed their eye when applying them.
Meanwhile, more than a quarter of respondents admitted they always or sometimes touch the inside of their eye with the bottle tip when using drops.
Test for a tenner
Following the acquisition of Tesco Opticians by Vision Express, the multiple has managed to tie-in loyalty card customers at the supermarket to cheaper eye exams.
A deal was announce during National Eye Health Week to offer £10 eye tests to everyone with a Tesco Clubcard at any Vision Express store nationwide.
Tesco membership and loyalty director Tash Whitmey said: ‘Clubcard is one of the ways we say thank you to our customers and we’re delighted to offer our members a little help in partnership with Vision Express. We know eye health is important to our customers and we hope they take up this offer to receive a discounted eye test, just by simply showing their card.’
Vision Express also offered free eye exams at its Vision Van in High Wycombe and Salisbury during eye health week.
Success in Scotland
During this year’s National Eye Health Week, Stuart McMillan, MSP, led a debate in Scottish Parliament on the importance of eye health and regular exams.
He has led the cross-party group on visual impairment in Scotland since 2011.
It was noted that last financial year, 1,923,926 over-16s and 288,258 under-16s had received a free eye test in Scotland, the highest annual level on record.
‘I would like to celebrate the success of the free eye test policy in Scotland, which since 2007 has been backed by £775m of funding,’ McMillan said. ‘I’m sure that every health minister since then would be delighted with the continued annual increase.’
Overall, more than 21 million eye exams have been conducted in Scotland since the policy came into effect.
Blue light warning
Among the research released during NEHW, new statistics released on digital screen use were likely to grab attention.
In a study of 2,000 Brits last month, Ocushield found people spend more than double the amount of time each day on digital screens, nine hours, than socialising, eating and reading combined.
The survey found Londoners spend the most amount of time per day in front of a digital screen, nine hours 50 minutes, while the Scottish spend the least amount of time, eight hours, 10 minutes.
Ocushield founder and optometrist Dhruvin Patel (pictured) said: ‘It’s concerning to see that people are spending so much time in front of digital screens, as excessive screen usage can disrupt sleeping patterns as well as our wider health through exposure to blue light, a high-energy light emitted by all digital devices.’
World Sight Day
Driver awareness
Sightsavers used World Sight Day to unveil some shocking statistics about drivers’ vision.
It found 80% of drivers who require glasses or contact lenses were not wearing them behind the wheel.
From a sample of 2,000 respondents, a third of UK drivers who needed to wear glasses or contact lenses by law said they forgot to wear them most days and a quarter forgot every week.
Over half, 56%, of the drivers were not aware they should be able to read a parked car number plate 20 meters away, although 83% believed regular eye tests should be made compulsory in the UK.
The global charity also announced it had supplied free glasses to 7,600 truckers in India, having identified a group ‘in need of eye care because they are travelling long distances, often in unsafe conditions and with little job security’.
Employees urged to offer free eye care
Vision charity Clearly flagged up research on World Sight Day to big businesses such as McDonald’s, Walmart and Amazon to show how providing spectacles to workers would increase productivity equivalent to an extra day of work a week.
Its Prosper Productivity Study of Presbyopia Elimination in Rural Dwellers research highlighted that free work-based sight tests and affordable glasses improved workers’ quality of life.
Clearly founder James Chen wrote to the CEOs of 120 of the world’s largest businesses, reminding them that a third of the world’s population have poor vision and no access to correction.
‘With governments leading the way in prioritising quality eye care for all, it is now time for business to follow. Not only is this the right thing to do and a basic human right, but we now have the proof that it will benefit your organisation,’ he wrote, adding that Uber Kenya was working with local optometrists to provide free vision screenings and affordable glasses for thousands of drivers.
Clearly planned to launch work-based vision programmes at the world’s first ‘Sightgeist’ conference next year in London.
Seven step plan
Sight loss charity Henshaws released an innovative new seven step plan to help blind and visually impaired people receive support from clinicians on World Sight Day, which was endorsed by NHS Greater Manchester.
The charity noted only 25% of those blind or partially sighted people of working age were currently in employment in the UK.
Henshaws director of community services Robert Cooper said: ‘We understand how scary losing your sight can be, and we’re committed to ensuring that no one goes through it alone and without support. These simple steps are designed to provide a structured response to an often chaotic situation and help lay the foundations for an enjoyable, independent life.’
Glaucoma grant
New research into medicine for those at risk of glaucoma from steroid use was announced by Fight For Sight on October 11.
Professor Colin Willoughby from Ulster University was awarded a £170,000 grant over the course of three years to develop a genetic test to predict how a patient will respond to steroids, which are frequently used to treat eye conditions but can cause an increase in eye pressure.
Prof Willoughby said: ‘Support from Fight for Sight will be a significant resource to study the genetics of the steroid response and develop genetic tests to personalise treatment and target NHS resources to patients at risk of complication.’
Support from FODO
Among the optical bodies to support this year’s World Sight Day, staff at FODO created posters highlighting various key messages to raise public awareness of blindness and vision impairment as major public health issues.
FODO vowed to continue supporting universal eye care and said booking an eye exam was the first step towards achieving it.
‘The work FODO does in Europe is vital to our members’ interests and the public. Good eye health affects our society and health care system,’ added new communications officer Peter Oniovosa.