Optical bodies provide evidence to dementia inquiry

1 July 2009

The optical bodies recently gave written evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia, highlighting the link between dementia and sight loss and stressing their disappointment of the exclusion of this in the National Dementia Strategy. The recent strategy, which aims to improve services for dementia patience fails to mention sight loss or include optometrists and dispensing opticians in reference to other healthcare professionals in the care of people with dementia.

There is a real concern that many people with dementia are not accessing NHS funded eye care services which may mean that they have undetected visual problems and therefore maybe at risk of losing their sight. They claim the facts are clear, the earlier an eye disease is detected and treated the better the outcome. Regular eye examinations are important not only to check a person’s vision, but to detect asymptomatic eye disease.

Eye health and eye care services are particularly important for people with dementia because they may have difficulty communicating that they have visual problems. Yet simply ensuring they have access to eye care services and treatments can vastly improve their quality of life.
The optical bodies remain committed to working with relevant organisations to improve the current general lack of awareness about NHS eye care services and the benefits to patients of improving their eyesight and preventing avoidable blindness.

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to ePolitix.com. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the ePolitix.com service.

As such, ePolitix.com does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.