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Optometry in England

Key statistics and our asks for optometry in England

Patient having her eyes tested

We regularly engage with parliamentarians to promote the strategic case of increased focus on eye care and eye health, but your help is essential in achieving cut-through.

Transforming community eye care in England

Download our introduction for MPs (PDF)

This page is designed to be a helpful resource for communicating with the public, press and policymakers.

In numbers: NHS sight testing service

  • 13,705 optometrists
  • 6000 High Street opticians
  • 13m NHS sight tests
  • 425,000 home visits
  • £525m cost of the service to the NHS
  • £2.09b yearly social and economic benefit.

Optometry is ready to deliver health reform. Action now across our four interventions will release two million NHS appointments annually, saving the NHS £98 million every year.

Our interventions, as outlined in the PA report, and how we talk about them:

Key interventions to transform eye care and eye health
A national roll-out of community services for any eye problem
  • Using the skills of primary eye care practitioners to triage, manage and prioritise patients presenting with an eye problem
  • This allows patients to be seen faster and in a more convenient setting when compared to A&E and GP surgeries – reducing waiting, pain and anxiety
  • It also minimises unwarranted onward referral to Hospital Eye Services.
A national roll-out of an integrated glaucoma pathway 
  • Helps avoid unnecessary hospital referrals for patients with suspected glaucoma and ongoing monitoring to prevent the development or exacerbation of glaucoma for patients at risk.
A national roll-out of an integrated cataract pathway
  • Primary care optometrists confirm eligibility and patient willingness for surgery. After surgery they then check for and treat post-operative complications and monitor patient outcomes
  • Patients receive more accessible and convenient care both before and after surgery, fewer change their minds after committing to surgery (saving time, cost, inconvenience), and hospital eye specialists can devote themselves entirely to the part of the pathway which only they can perform – the surgery itself.
Transforming the potential of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in community settings and harnessing its continued technological advance
  • Community- based OCT allows patients to receive more advanced eye care closer to home and more quickly, reducing the need for hospital visits and easing the burden on secondary care services
  • Community-based OCT is not currently integrated into NHS pathways, even though the quality of technology and optometrists’ capabilities are high and advancing rapidly
  • It would be relatively easy to integrate community OCT into end-to-end NHS workflows.

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