Ensure checks for eye disease

A Rutherglen optician is urging people to stay on top of vital checks to reduce their risk of succumbing to one of the leading causes of blindness.

Peter Beaton, store director at Specsavers in Rutherglen, is using World Glaucoma Week to urge people to make their eye health a priority.

Often called the“silent thief of sight”due to its gradual onset, more than 700,000 people in the UK are estimated to have the condition, and this is predicted to increase by 44 per cent by 2035.

Because it is often symptomless, half of glaucoma cases go undetected and many don’t realise they have the condition until it is too late.

Mr Beaton said:“What is concerning for optometrists is that many people have missed their eye test due to the pandemic.

“At Specsavers we identified 66 per cent fewer cases of glaucoma in 2020.

“When you consider that we perform almost half of all eye tests across the UK, this gives a good indication into how much glaucoma referrals will have dropped as a whole, which is an extremely worrying statistic.”

He added:“Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world, but what makes it even more concerning is that it is often symptomless. While it cannot be reversed, it can be successfully managed.

“This is why having an eye examination is so important as it can often detect any subtle changes before it is too late.” The most common type of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, is hereditary.

Karen Osborn, chief executive at Glaucoma UK, added:“There are several factors which could make you more at risk of developing glaucoma, such as family history of the disease.

“People of AfricanCaribbean or Asian origin, or who have higher levels of short sightedness, are also more at risk.

“Glaucoma is often symptomless, so people not having routine eye tests, they may have the disease and not know it.”

Action to tackle deeprooted inequality and child poverty will be accelerated through £7.4 million of additional investment.

The funding will be made available to local authorities specifically to help disabled parents and enhance the support they receive.

The funding will also be allocated to the Social Innovation Partnership which invests in alternative approaches to tackling poverty and improving lives.

In addition to the £23.3 million committed in the 2021-22 Scottish Budget, this investment brings the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Fund to a cumulative total of £50 million from 2018–2022, helping towards the ambition to eradicate child poverty and to halve the disability employment gap in Scotland.

Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local

Government, Aileen Campbell ,said:“This increased funding delivers not only on our commitment to invest £50 million through our Tackling Child Poverty Fund, but also to target support to disabled parents to access employment.

“The impacts of Covid have been particularly damaging to disabled people’s employment prospects and it is right that we invest now to enhance the support available.

“Our long-standing Social Innovation Partnership is supporting life-changing and innovative work to tackle child poverty and this increased investment will help to accelerate action.

“We remain firmly committed to eradicating child poverty in Scotland and halving the disability employment gap, and this new investment takes us one step closer to realising these ambitions.”