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Following a successful proposal from the UK Vision Strategy there will be a focus on ageing and sight loss in the elderly after eye health has been named as one of four priorities of the RCGP ( Royal College of General Practitioners ).A jointly developed framework will be set up to assist GPs across the country identify undetected sight loss among our senior citizens.
Dr Shah an ophthalmology representative for the College has said that by identifying sight loss at an earlier stage, GPs can prevent patients suffering from other issues such as falls and depression which have strong links with sight loss, significantly improving the lives of patients. From April next year the RCGP will begin the launch of a three-year programme lead by a senior clinician. Already the figures for predicted sight loss in the UK is set to double to four million by the year 2050, as a result of our ageing population. over eighty percent of that vision loss occurring in people over the age of sixty. Many older people just accept failing vision as part of the natural ageing process, but we are trying to emphasize that this need not be the case. GPs have an incredibly important role to play in raising awareness of the need for them to protect their eye health
More details about the program and the resources which will be developed by and for GPs and other primary health care professionals to help them improve patient care in this key area is expected to be released soon.