Changes to eyecare need to happen fast to tackle backlog

Ansley Workman, director of RNIB Cymru, warns that sight loss is a much more common condition than people might generally realise

SIGHT loss might feel like something that happens to ‘other people’, but the reality is that one in five of us will develop sight loss in our lifetime.

Many of the eye conditions that cause sight loss can, with the right timely and effective treatment, be managed. Unfortunately, at the moment we know that fewer than half of urgent eye care patients in Wales are actually receiving this treatment and care when they need it. For many this can mean that their sight deteriorates or is lost completely. Most frustratingly of all, this is often when it could have been saved.

So, what does that really mean? Well, I could tell you that there are already 111,000 blind and partially sighted people in Wales. Or that by 2030 this will have increased by 32%.

But really, these statistics can feel a bit too clinical to understand the real, daily impact that unnecessary sight loss can have. The pandemic backlog also means that we’ve now got more people waiting for that urgent eye care treatment.

RNIB speaks with people whose cancelled and delayed eye care appointments have impacted their daily lives. The reality of sight loss is the primary carer who has lost so much sight that they are no longer allowed to drive, and can no longer take her mother to the shops or appointments. There’s the grandmother, who now knows that she will never see her new grandchild’s face. There’s also the student waiting for treatment for their eye condition, waiting anxiously every time the postman arrives at the door, hoping that their next appointment letter will be in it.

Healthcare professionals working in this area are often as exasperated as their patients. After working through a pandemic and having committed your career to saving people’s sight where you can, not having the capacity and resources needed to be able to do this for every patient must be devastating.

Welsh Government recently published its Planned Care Recovery Plan, which aims to transform and modernise planned care and reduce waiting lists. One of the Government’s solutions to the waiting list crisis in eye care, is to move more into the capable hands of high street opticians. This will really help to free up time and resources in our eye clinics to deliver care to those at greatest need.

While having a new plan is great, now is the time for us to really dig into the statistics. Thanks to the eye care measures introduced a few years ago here in Wales, we have access to really detailed information on who is most at risk of losing their sight and how long they’re waiting for treatment. Health boards already have their targets, now they just need to make sure they’re being met and being held to account if they’re not.

These changes need to happen quickly so that the waiting list backlog doesn’t keep growing.

Because sight loss isn’t something that happens to ‘other people’. Sight loss can happen to anyone and if it happens to you, we want the right treatment to be there at the right time to protect your sight.