Transforming eye care and preventing sight loss: national call to action

We are at a critical moment for eye health in this country. For too long, eye care has been under prioritised, leaving patients waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment and, in some cases, losing their sight unnecessarily. This is happening even though half of all sight loss is avoidable. 

In my role as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Vision Impairment, I have consistently heard from clinicians, patients and system leaders that the current model is no longer sustainable. Hospital eye services are under immense pressure. Waiting lists remain high, demand continues to grow, and capacity is stretched. At the same time, there is a highly skilled workforce in the community – optometrists, orthoptists and others – ready and able to do much more.

An eye care pathway fit for the future

We have an opportunity to build a joined up eye care system: one that delivers more care closer to people’s homes, strengthens the interface between primary and secondary services and ensures equitable access for all. This is not just about relieving pressure on hospitals, it is about creating a modern, preventative and patient centred eye care pathway fit for the future.

Across the country, local areas are already showing what is possible. Clinicians and system leaders are redesigning pathways so that patients can be safely assessed, monitored and managed in community settings. These models are improving access, reducing unnecessary hospital visits and delivering better experiences for patients.

Too often, they rely on local determination, workarounds and exceptional effort. As the NHS Alliance’s briefing, Delivering eye care closer to home: what needs to change nationally to enable scale, sets out, some of the barriers to wider adoption are structural and many sit at a national level. 

Time for action

If we are serious about transforming eye care, national action is now essential. That means providing clear policy direction, aligning financial and commissioning models with patient pathways, investing in workforce development and ensuring the digital infrastructure is in place to connect services across organisational boundaries. It also means giving local systems the clarity and confidence they need to move forward without having to navigate conflicting incentives or rebuild solutions from scratch.

National leaders must work in genuine partnership with local systems, recognising the innovation already underway and creating the conditions for it to spread. Local leaders, in turn, must continue to champion new ways of working that put patients first. A more integrated and accessible eye care system would not only reduce pressure on hospitals but improve outcomes, tackle inequalities and prevent avoidable sight loss at scale. 

We have seen that this change is possible. It is now up to us to take action and make this change possible everywhere at the point of need.

Marsha De Cordova MP is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eye Health and Vision Impairment and Member of Parliament for Battersea. She is a long-standing advocate for improving eye care services and tackling avoidable sight loss, working closely with patients, clinicians and system leaders to drive national attention and action on eye health.