02 February 2022
Newly diagnosed NHS glaucoma and ocular hypertension patients will initially be offered selective laser therapy (SLT) rather than eye drops.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published updated guidance on the diagnosis and management of glaucoma.
NICE highlighted that the change in approach to treating glaucoma would see an increase in the routine use of SLT.
“The increased use of this treatment would reduce the use of eye drops and potentially decrease the need for some patients to undergo cataract or intraocular pressure lowering surgery,” the institute stated.
NICE suggested that cost savings through reduced eye drop use and surgery rates would “more than” cover the costs of introducing SLT more widely.
It is estimated that the annual saving from the change in approach would be around £87,500 in 2021–2022, rising to £400,000 by 2025–2026.
Dr Paul Chrisp, from NICE, highlighted that SLT as a first-line therapy was more cost effective than eye drops.
“The guideline has been developed following a public consultation last year and we are recommending that local healthcare services carrying out laser therapy should be providing their staff with training on the treatment,” he shared.
“It is crucial that healthcare professionals discuss the benefits and risks with patients, family members and carers to agree on a treatment plan for each person,” Chrisp added.
Comments (2)
You must be logged in to join the discussion. Log in
Nicholas Rumney10 February 2022
The consultation does more than that. It negates most of not all optometry HQ’s in glaucoma. It’s one step forward threes steps back. Having every diagnosis of OHT and glaucoma to only be signed off by a consultant ophthalmologist is unworkable unless their role is titular in a crown immunity context.
Non surgical glaucoma needs to be removed from hospital control and includes SLT.
Demography will make this guidance more than it is already unworkable and judging by the criticism of both College of Optometrists and Royal College of Ophthalmologists in the response under public consultation it’s wilfully ignored all elements of service delivery. Most people I have spoken to consider the new guidance somewhat academic detached from reality and unhelpful. People will lose vision whilst low risk OHT and suspect POAG are shovelled into ever longer outpatient waiting lists.
Report Like 288
[email protected]03 February 2022
Wonderful! But how is SLT going to be affected by the backlog of hospital consultations due to Covid? I suspect that such treatment will find itself at the back of the queue.
Report Like 357