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Long delays in patients treatment is the current threat acording to released survey findings that looked into the work that eye health commissioners are doing in preparation for forthcoming changes within the National Health Service.
The survey released this week reported that around 87 per cent of eye health commissioners, from a sample of 68 primary care trusts (PCTs) in the United Kingdom have seriously lacked in their plannning for the treatments of patients with serious eye illnesses. The focus appears to be on the plannng for patient referral who develop serious eye conditions.
Current Primary Care Trusts are due to be replaced with Clinical Commissioning Groups and the request is for there to be a priority placed on eye health and that better plans are developed for patient referral and handover so none fall through the net during the change.
The survey has also identified varying differences in patients access to care between the different regions. The report has stated that some patients were waiting up to ten times longer for treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment than in others, and differing spending accounts between trusts showed some were spending 10 times more on their eye care services than others.
Back in 2003 the National Health Trust set a target for trusts to be performing just over three thousand procedures to treat cataracts per hundred thousand patents over the age of 65years. The survey has revealed that eleven of the trusts from those included in the research had still not met this target now 9 years old.
It is important for the trusts at a localised level to ensure that exisiting systems are improved and new ones are put in place for the change to ensure the correct treatment reaches the patients fast.
Nationally the higher echelons within the service need to exercise and own the power to correct the imbalances that are present in the exisiting postcode lottery to ensure no unnecessary sight loss for patients that in the current conditions are unavoidable.