A new study has revealed that managing eye conditions through enhanced optometric services at local optometrists, rather than relying solely on hospital eye services (HES), can significantly reduce patient wait times and lower costs for the NHS.

Researchers found that integrating optometrists based in community optician practice settings to handle conditions like neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and glaucoma brings substantial benefits.

The study, published in Ophthalmic and Physiological Opticsdemonstrates that enhanced optometry services in local optician clinics can deliver the same quality of care as hospital eye services, while providing additional advantages for both patients and the NHS.

Key findings from the study show:

• Reduced waiting times: The integration of optometrists into primary care significantly reduced patient wait times. For suspected nAMD, waiting times were shortened to four to five days, and for glaucoma monitoring, to just five days. This contrasts sharply with traditional HES, where patients often faced much longer waits.
• Shortened waiting lists: Waiting lists were dramatically reduced with primary care-based services—down to just three people waiting for nAMD and five for glaucoma, compared to 216 and 5,691 people, respectively, in HES.
• Efficient use of consultant time: Shifting more responsibilities to primary care optometrists frees up consultant ophthalmologists’ time, allowing them to focus on more complex cases and optimizing the use of health care resources.
• Comparable patient experience: Primary care-based optometric services are on par with hospital eye services in terms of patient experience. They also offer a financially viable and scalable solution to manage the increasing number of people with eye diseases.

The study was led by Professor Barbara Ryan from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and Cardiff University, in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team from Swansea University, the University of South Wales, and Sight Cymru.

The research initially focused on three health boards in Wales, and the service has since been rolled out across the entire country.

Lead researcher Professor Barbara Ryan of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said, “Currently patients are at risk of losing their sight because of delays waiting for hospital eye appointments. These research findings give hope that there is a solution on every local high street.”

Dr. Mari Jones of Swansea University’s Center for Health Economics added, “This project has shown that empowering local optometrists in local optician practices to manage conditions like neovascular age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma can drastically reduce patient wait times and costs without compromising on quality of care. By shifting eye care into community settings, they have shown that patients can receive timely, expert care close to home, while hospital specialists focus on complex cases but also optimizes. resources across the NHS.”