The Low Vision Service Wales (LVSW) was founded in 2004 with the aim of providing a better quality of care that was available closer to people’s homes and facilitating rapid service access. The service has been found to be as effective as traditional hospital-based services and effective over the longer term (Court et al. 2011; Ryan et al. 2013). In 2015, 11 years after the establishment of the service, the LVSW had completely replaced all secondary care-based low-vision services in Wales.

During 2016 over 8000 patients were seen within the service, which is provided by practitioners who have undergone further postgraduate training and a process of service accreditation. Access to the service is open, with referrals being accepted from any source, including the patients themselves.