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Allow optometrists to certificate vision impairment

More patients will have access to support if optometrists are able to certify

Optometrist using an optometer to measure patients eyes

Key points

  • Too few eligible people get a certificate of visual impairment which entitles them to benefits and support
  • Applications for these certificates can only be signed off by an ophthalmologist but hospital systems are not fully resourced to ensure this happens
  • Allowing optometrists and other qualified professionals to sign the applications for certificates would mean that more people get the certification—and the help—they are entitled to.

Records show that 340,000 people in the UK are certified as visually impaired (CVI) or registered as blind but this figure is thought to be a significant under-estimate of those who qualify for certification/registration. This means that thousands of people are potentially losing out on benefits and support that they could be entitled to.

Having a certificate of visual impairment (CVI) can trigger access to a host of benefits to help with daily living for anyone with significant vision loss. They include financial support with costs relating to their disability or illness, a reduction in NHS costs, tax allowances, reduced fees on public transport among other useful measures. Crucially, it can also mean an automatic referral to Low Vision Services.

Currently, only ophthalmologists are permitted to complete the forms to certify visual impairment or register blindness. The procedure is also laborious with the ophthalmologist completing initial registration before going through further approval stages from the patient’s GP, the local authority and finally The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Certifications Office.

A 2023 study of patient experiences of CVI registration reported long waits for many, a void in patient knowledge as to how to access all the benefits and services triggered by the registration, and confusion on who would be their point of contact. The protocol was originally formed in 2013 and should be urgently reviewed to widen the scope of people being offered registration, and to simplify the approval and referral processes.

Recommendation

  1. Amend legislation so that optometrists and other appropriately qualified professionals are fully enabled to complete and submit Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI) for their patients.

References

For a full list of resources used to create this information hub visit our reference page.

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