You won’t see it coming: why the AOP is campaigning for glaucoma care

With the 10-Year Health Plan just days away, and a commitment in the Spending Review that was published earlier this month to provide more care via community services for minor and urgent eye care, the timing feels right.

This campaign, You won’t see it coming, is a painfully accurate title when it comes to glaucoma. It is about shining a light on something that many people simply don’t see coming, until it’s too late. It is also about giving optometry the recognition it deserves for detecting this sight-threatening condition in time.

At its core, our glaucoma-focused campaign seeks to do two things: it tells the public that glaucoma is beatable, if we catch it early, and it tells the Government and the NHS, ‘we can help’ – if you’d just let us provide these eye care detection and monitoring services everywhere, not just in a few postcode lottery areas.

We’re anchoring the campaign to Glaucoma Awareness Week, which begins today (30 June–6 July).

Glaucoma specialist optometrist and AOP Councillor representing independent prescribing optometrists, Ankur Trivedi, is helping us tell the story, alongside his patient, Paul Tyler.

Veteran Liberal Democrat MP Tyler, who was once the Liberal Democrats rural affairs spokesperson before being made a life peer in 2005, has been living with glaucoma for 25 years. However, the condition has had minimal impact on his day-to-day life, because he had accessto good eye care in the community.

The system in Gloucestershire, where Tyler now resides and Trivedi practises, is working successfully to monitor and treat patients within community optometry.

We have captured the pair in a short and simple video, which you can watch below.

Weale didn’t have access to the glaucoma care he required and got caught in waiting-list limbo. His diagnosis came late, his treatment even later, and in the end, he lost sight in one eye

The wrong postcode

Unfortunately, the care that Tyler has received, which has protected his vision, is not everyone’s experience. Through the campaign we are also sharing the story of Matt Weale.

Weale didn’t have access to the glaucoma care he required and got caught in waiting-list limbo. His diagnosis came late, his treatment even later, and in the end, he lost sight in one eye. He lost work. He lost hobbies. Ultimately, he lost things people shouldn’t have to lose just because they live in the wrong postcode.

Our campaign is not just tugging heartstrings for the sake of it – we’re making a clear argument: commission glaucoma care nationally. Not as a luxury, but as a logical, cost-saving, common-sense move.

The AOP’s 2024 economic modelling project, which was undertaken in partnership with PA Consulting and resulted in the publication of the Key interventions to transform eye care and eye health report, backs this up with the numbers, and supports this call for action.

Our campaign is not just tugging heartstrings for the sake of it – we’re making a clear argument: commission glaucoma care nationally. Not as a luxury, but as a logical, cost-saving, common-sense move

The numbers

The report emphasises that the prevalence of major eye conditions is expected to grow by 25% over the next decade – around seven times faster than overall population growth.

It highlighted that hospitals are already struggling under the pressure of thousands of appointments each month, with only 24% of eye units with enough consultants to meet demand. And, it calculates that if a national scheme enabled glaucoma to be detected and managed by High Street optometrists in the community, it would save the NHS £13m annually.

This insight has been overlayed with findings from our 2024 Voice of Optometry research, through which we were able to ask you, our members, about your opinion and experiences on this important topic.

Overwhelmingly, 86% of optometrist-member respondents told us that you felt that a nationally commissioned glaucoma service provided by community-based optometrists would reduce waiting lists in secondary care.

Furthermore, over half (52%) strongly agreed or agreed (35%) that these types of services, when delivered by community-based optometrists, can reduce preventable sight loss that occurs due to delayed and late diagnosis.

When asked about your experiences with patients and this condition, worryingly, 21% of you told us you had seen an increase in the number of late presentations for glaucoma compared to previous years, while 61% of you believed that most patients are unaware of glaucoma as a health condition.

A voice in the media

Launching the campaign, it’s key that we elevate our call across national media and within parliament. On hand to support with spreading this message is our chief executive, Adam Sampson, who will be our voice across television and radio, alongside our clinical experts.

Across the week we will be dispersing our messages across social media, while also reaching out to MPs and key decision makers directly to emphasise our call – let’s face it, no campaign wins without some polite but firm emails and telephone calls.

Finally, we are also asking you, our members, to get involved to strengthen our call. You can use our toolkit and MP letter templates to raise awareness locally with both politicians and your patients. Be part of our push for change to bring national access to sight-saving glaucoma services into the community today.

Learn more about our You won’t see it coming campaign here.