NHS Sight Tests Top 11 Million After 14 Per Cent Rise Since 2002-03, Report Shows, England

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 20 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PST

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Just over 11 million NHS sight tests took place in England in 2007-08, nearly 1.4 million more than in 2002-03, new figures from The NHS Information Centre show.

The report, General Ophthalmic Services, Activity Statistics for England and Wales, Year Ending 31 March 2008, also shows there were nearly 330,000 of these sight tests at a patients' home or residential home in 2007-08, 75,000 (29.3 per cent) more than in 2002-03.

The report is published at the same time as another bulletin from The NHS Information Centre, General Ophthalmic Services, Workforce Statistics for England and Wales, 31 December 2007, which shows:

The number of ophthalmic practitioners in England increased by 19.0 per cent from 2002 to reach just over 9,630 in 2007.

- The proportion of ophthalmic practitioners in England who are female increased from 42.3 per cent in 2002 to 45.9 per cent in 2007.

Both reports have been enhanced to provide more complete and detailed historical information, as well as information at a local level not previously published.

NHS Information Centre Chief Executive Tim Straughan said: "A sight test has the potential to transform a person's quality of life and our figures show that the number of tests has increased by nearly 1.4 million since 2002-03.

A main objective of General Ophthalmic Services is to provide eye care for those who need it most, such as children, people on low incomes and those aged 60 and over. The increase in the number of tests, issued vouchers and ophthalmic practitioners shown in our reports suggests such services are reaching those people."

The reports are accompanied by an easy-to-use electronic factsheet that allows users to compare the results for any Primary Care Trusts/Local Health Boards against averages for the parent Strategic Health Authority/Welsh region and for England/Wales as a whole.

A copy of General Ophthalmic Services, Activity Statistics for England and Wales, Year Ending 31 March 2008, can be viewed at:http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/genophservactivitystats08

A copy of General Ophthalmic Services, Workforce Statistics for England and Wales, 31 December 2007, can be viewed at: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/genophworkfstats07

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. These reports present information about GOS activity for year 2007/08 and GOS workforce as at 31 December 2007. The statistics are derived from data provided by primary care trusts (PCTs) in England and local health boards (LHBs) in Wales, which contract with ophthalmic practitioners to provide NHS sight tests and optical vouchers. The data for this report is a combination of information entered onto the Ophthalmic Payments System by PCTs/LHBs and downloaded by The NHS Information Centre for health and social care, and manual returns submitted directly to the NHS Information Centre. The NHS Information Centre has a responsibility for analysing and publishing these data.

3. The objective of the General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) is to provide, through community opticians' practices, preventative and corrective eye care for children, people aged 60 and over, people on low incomes, and those suffering from or pre-disposed to eye disease.

4. Regional information is provided within both reports.

5. In July 1986 the NHS voucher scheme was restricted to the following:

- Children aged under 16;
- Students in full time education aged 16 - 18;
- Adults receiving Income Support and their partners;
- Adults receiving Family Credit (FC) and their partners;
- Patients on low income holding an HC2 or HC3 certificate and their partners;

Subsequent additions to the eligible groups were:

- From April 1995, adults receiving a Disability Working Allowance (DWA);
- From October 1996, adults receiving income based Job Seekers Allowance;
- From October 1999, adults receiving full Working Families Tax Credit or Disabled persons Tax Credit, or credit reduced by £70 or less, replaced FC and DWA;
- Adults receiving Pension Credits guarantee credit (from October 2003).
- Patients not in one of the above categories, but who are prescribed complex lenses, also receive some help.

6. To coincide with the introduction of the new General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) regulations in England on 1 August 2008, the NHS Information Centre intends to review the methodology for counting the ophthalmic workforce to ensure that the new measure is appropriate and can provide meaningful information for decision making purposes. The review will follow National Statistics protocols and will be placed on the NHS Information Centre website. The review is expected to be launched in the near future and will be available at: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/work-with-us/consultations.

NHS Information Centre