Cutting Cataract Surgery Waiting Times - Tuesday 14 January 2003
Notice of meeting:
- 55% of the visual impairment in the over 65s is caused by cataract
- 2.5 million people aged 60 and older have sight-impairing cataract
- The average patient waits for 8-10 weeks for an initial outpatient appointment and then a further 7 months for (cataract) surgery
- Cataract mainly affects elderly people, so our ageing population means these waits will only increase unless something is done soon
Cataracts are a major cause of preventable visual handicap, creating huge demands in terms of social and medical care. The condition is usually responsive to surgery, which greatly improves the quality of life of the patient and reduces the costs of ongoing care. However, some of the longest waiting lists in the NHS are within Ophthalmology departments; waiting times for cataract operations can extend to twelve months or more, and involve a lengthy process of referrals from optometrists to GPs to ophthalmology departments.
A number of local Co-Managed Care Schemes have been effectively implemented that capitalise upon optometrists’ specialist expertise and therefore reduce pressure upon GPs and cut referral times for hospital consultations. Such schemes in Peterborough and Ayr have succeeded in cutting waiting times for cataracts operations from twelve months to as little as four weeks. This follows the introduction of a one-stop service that has reduced the number of hospital visits for patients from nine to just two. Optometrists can now refer patients directly to the hospital for surgery, cutting out visits to GPs and outpatient clinics and reducing the pressure on these resources.
Retinopathy Screening -Tuesday 1 April 2003
Notice of meeting:
All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment, and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes
Tuesday 1 April 2003, 5pm, Committee Room 6, House of Commons, followed by a Reception, 6.45pm, Terrace Pavilion
Retinopathy Screening
Please come along to this joint meeting to hear about retinopathy screening in the UK, and targets set out in the National Service Framework for Diabetes launched earlier this year. The joint meeting will ask how these targets are going to be met, focusing on how frequently people at risk should be screened, and what methodology is to be used.
Following the joint meeting, the APPG for Eye Health and Visual Impairment will be holding a reception at the Terrace Pavilion in the House of Commons at 6.45pm.
Speakers at the Meeting include:
- Dr Peter Scanlon, lead on the National Screening Committee’s retinopathy screening implementation team
- The College of Optometrists’ Richard Broughton, who will provide an overview of the screening procedure, and a patient who will give a personal account of the consequences of diabetic retinopathy.
- The speaker at the Reception will be:
- The author Sue Townsend, who is now registered blind due to sight loss caused by diabetic retinopathy.
Right to Read - 28 October 2003
Notice of meeting:
The aim of this meeting will be to inform attendees of the fact that every day three million children and adults are denied the Right to Read just because they have a sight problem, dyslexia or a reading disability. A shocking 95 per cent of all books, magazines and other publications never become available in large print, audio or Braille. 3, 000 of your constituents cannot read standard print.
Author Joanna Trollope will speak at the meeting and there will be an opportunity to have your photograph taken with her and show your support for the campaign in your local media.
Every day three million children and adults are denied the Right to Read just because they have a sight problem, dyslexia or a reading disability. A shocking 95 per cent of all books, magazines and other publications NEVER become available in large print, audio or braille.
This discrimination must end. We need to act now. The Right to Read the same material, at the same time, at the same price must become a reality for three million people.
- Come and find out what you can do to improve the situation. Help us build on the Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act.
- Come and hear the world famous author Joanna Trollope talk about the issues and find out why she supports the Right to Read campaign.