Westminster drop-in event

On 18 November, we hosted our ‘Eye care in your constituency’ drop-in event in Westminster to present a picture of eye care services across England.

The event, sponsored by Peter Dowd MP, was well attended with over 30 MPs and their staff present on the day.

The session highlighted the disparities in access to eye care across England and opened discussions on how community optometrists can help provide equitable, high-quality eye care beyond the sight test, nationwide.

Our key areas of discussion with MPs were around how community eye care can:

• Improve patient outcomes through early intervention, better accessibility and faster treatment
• Reduce the burden on GPs, A&E and hospital ophthalmology departments by using the capacity and clinical skills of community optometrists
• End the postcode lottery in eye care provision, expanding services to reach all patients across the UK.

Expanding access to community eye care aligns with the Government’s health ambitions.

At the event, parliamentarians had the opportunity to learn more about primary eye care services, what timely treatment optometrists currently provide in their constituency, as well how the sector has a greater role to play in the Government’s ambition to deliver more healthcare in the community.

Our asks to Government are:

• Make optometry, alongside our colleagues in primary care, central to the delivery of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan
• Increase investment in primary eye care to create equitable access
• Use the existing primary eye care network to deliver more services
• Improve the digital link-up between primary eye care and hospital teams.