Visual health awareness, the Scottish community optometry service and Eyecare Integration Project: Breaking barriers in preventing visual impairment

There are 34,492 registered with severe or partial sight impairment in Scotland, with 75% aged over 65. With the ageing population, the proportion of those who will develop sight impairing disease will only increase. Therefore, early presentation and treatment are important. Recently, new sight saving treatments and community screening programmes for sight impairing disease have been introduced with concomitant advance in ophthalmic digital imaging.In order to assess older patients’ attendance of free eye tests, awareness of different sight impairing disease and treatments. We describe the first electronic visual healthcare system within any global public healthcare service – ‘The Scottish Eyecare Integration Project’ – and potential improvements along with the General Ophthalmic Service (GOS) contract.A 14-point questionnaire was devised to assess 100 patients’ awareness of free annual eye tests, and the three most common causes and treatment for severe sight impairment: age-related macular degeneration ...