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A recent survey by the UK Vision Strategy and Royal College of General Practitioners has shown that large proportions of GP's in the UK are not confident in their abilities to diagnose eye related complaints and problems. Whilst the vast majority were keen to learn, most confirmed that they didn't feel that they were necessarily best equipped to recognize and diagnose the early symptoms of a range of eye health issues such as glaucoma.
In conjunction with the findings, the Royal College of General Practitioners feel that the results were positive in that the area has been highlighted as requiring extra work and that the large majority, over 80% of GP's, were eager to learn more in order to be able to offer a more expert opinion to patients who complain of eye related issues. As the first port of call for most people suffering from any ailment, GP's are usually the initial expert that would be contacted regarding eye related problems and as such the importance of their knowledge, expertise and advice is paramount in detecting the early signs of conditions that could lead to blindness or visual deterioration.
- 81.1% of GP's are interested in receiving extra training for vision related diagnosis
- 51.2% of GP's are confident in diagnosing glaucoma
- 49.3% of GP's are confident in diagnosing refractive error
- 48.8% of GP's are confident in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy
- 34.1% of GP's are confident in diagnosing age related macular degeneration
Other concerns amongst general practitioners were their ability to help and advise patients with vision loss and required upgrades to booking procedures for people with poor sight.
- 205 GP's took part in the survey
- 45 nurses took part in the survey