More than £10 million is to be made available to improve eyecare services in Scotland following last year’s review, the first Scottish Optometric Conference was told today in Glasgow.
A total of £8 million capital funding will be distributed to optical practices providing NHS eye examinations to enable them to buy new digital cameras. This will help develop the area of digital imaging to improve free eye examinations.
And a further £2.6m will be split between health boards to help make service improvements as identified by the review which aimed to encourage the development of integrated eyecare services and ensure patients receive good quality and efficient services, in a convenient setting without undue wait.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison said:
“I am delighted to be able to announce £10m of funding today which will make a real difference to the quality of eyecare services available in Scotland.
“I recognise that the findings of the eyecare review pose some challenges to optometrists and I am confident that the capital funding I have announced today will go a long way towards meeting those challenges.
“In my short time as Minister for Public Health I have been very impressed by the optical profession’s commitment to improving the health of the nation and the desire to expand the services which you provide on behalf of the NHS. I look forward to continuing to work with the profession in the future to ensure that the people of Scotland benefit from the best eyecare services possible.”
Frank Munro, chairman of Optometry Scotland, which represents more than 1000 registered optometrists and 300 dispensing opticians, said:
“The pump priming for improved services for those living with visual impairment will help NHS Boards establish networks of care.
“Optometry will be key to the success of these networks and Optometry Scotland looks forward to further involvement in taking this forward.
“The additional grant for optical equipment demonstrates the Government’s commitment to the ongoing development of the optometric service. The principal aim will be to establish an effective preventative eyecare service that will be recognised as the most advanced in the world.”
Optometry Scotland was established in March 2003 as the organisation to act as a single coherent voice for representation on all issues regarding optics in Scotland.
Details of the funding allocations for boards are:
* Ayrshire & Arran – £150,000 to develop an integrated children’s eyecare network. £114,000 to integrate services for adults, develop a network of community optometry practitioners for low vision services, appoint a part-time optometry advisor and a full-time RNIB worker to undertake home vision pre-assessments.
* Lothian – £98,600 to re-establish and expand the optometry network and improve access to eye care services for ethnic minority groups. £94,897 to establish a co-ordinated inter-agency service for children.
* Shetland- £140,000 to develop inter-agency services to support people with visual impairment needs.
* Forth Valley -£114,150 to develop adult and children’s low vision clinics.
* Dumfries & Galloway – £159,994 to develop low vision workshops, map patient pathways and build capacity within the low vision service.
* Grampian – £219,500 to: hold eyecare Healthfit across Grampian; recruit a project manager to take forward healthfit work streams; set up reference group to support service redesign; provide support from current service delivery to re-designed services; provide low visual aid kits and support;set up a training fund.
* Western Isles – £77,150 for a range of measures to improve children’s services.
* Fife – £155,000 to: Integrate patient centred information for children and adults; develop electronic data collection and sharing; improve services for children and adults; improved services for the identification and assessment of older people with dual sensory loss; carry out an evaluation of the service changes and to review through the integrated low vision group.
* Borders – £74,065 to develop child-centred refraction clinics, develop an eye movements service; provide additional resources used by teachers for visually impaired children, develop low vision clinics at Borders General Hospital.
* Highland – £181,500 to develop an eyecare network for adults and redesign and improve children’s vision impairment service.
* Lanarkshire – £159,600 to provide a low vision and functional vision service for children and integrate community eyecare services for adults.
* Tayside – £75,000 to improve children’s services.
* Greater Glasgow – £760,000 to develop community based eyecare services for adults, improve services for children, set up a pilot project to determine the effectiveness of eyecare provision for ethnic minorities
* Guide Dogs for the Blind – £36,620 to offer visually impaired people assistance in the immediate period after diagnosis of uncorrectable sight loss.
