Which optometric services across the UK are taking on more of the healthcare burden, asks John Windell.
NHS hospital eye services in the UK are at full stretch. In 2016-17, A&E departments in England handled more than 450,000 eye-related incidents (2.2 per cent of all attendances), while total ophthalmology outpatient attendances approached 7.6 million – 10 per cent higher than four years earlier (NHS Digital, 2017a; 2017b).
How does the manner in which commissioning and funding are undertaken across the four nations of the UK allow optometrists to take up more of this burden?
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The College of Optometrists and The Association of Optometrists (AOP) warn the current self-declaration system puts more lives at risk of death or injury.