AOP: Four in five A&E visits for eye problems could be managed in community optometry

Analysis by the AOP suggests that up to 78% of A&E visits for eye problems could be safely managed in community optometry services.

Nearly 780,000 visits to A&E in England each year are for eye-related conditions, the AOP noted, making eye problems among the top 10 most common reasons for attendance.

The research comes from the AOP’s report Eyecare everywhere: Taking pressure off Emergency Departments.

The AOP has highlighted that minor and urgent eye care services allow patients with conditions like red eyes, infections, flashes and floaters, or sudden changes in vision to be assessed and treated in optometry practices.

Areas in England with established services have been shown to reduce demand on emergency departments and GP services, the AOP said, emphasising that inconsistent commissioning across the country has created a “postcode lottery” of care.

Adam Sampson, chief executive of the AOP, said: “Emergency departments should not be the default destination to manage eye problems. What this research tells us is that hundreds of thousands of patients each year end up in A&E because they conclude it’s their only option, but they could be treated by the highly trained optometry workforce based in the community.”

The challenge is consistency, Sampson said, adding that the postcode lottery “deprives patients of access to care closer to home.”

The AOP has written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to share the new report Taking pressure off Emergency Departments as part of its Eye care everywhere campaign, calling for a nationwide service in England.

Eye health experts, supported by emergency care practitioners, are calling for urgent and minor eye care services delivered by community optometry to be available nationwide to help patients receive timely treatment in the most appropriate setting and reduce avoidable pressure on emergency departments.

This would support the Government’s ambition to shift more care into the community, experts argue.

Dr James Gagg, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “It’s no secret that emergency departments in England are under immense pressure at the moment, and we know our patients are being let down due to overcrowding and unacceptably long waits.”

Utilising community optometry services could save patients with eye concerns from a trip to busy emergency departments, he said.

Gagg added: “We would welcome better-resourced community eye care, which could help deflect demand from A&E, accompanied by further measures from government to tackle the root causes of overcrowding and corridor care elsewhere in the system.”

A 2024 report by PA Consulting for the AOP showed community optometry has the clinical expertise, equipment and capacity to manage more clinical care for common eye problems outside of hospital settings.

Sampson concluded: “It is simply a no-brainer that the Government acts to ensure that every member of the public who has an eye problem should be able to get the help they need on the High Street, in the same way the public can go to a community pharmacy for a range of health issues, regardless of where they live.”