Save Sight Now To Reduce Costs Later

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 19 Jun 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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Eye disease and sight loss cost the UK nearly £6.5bn in 2008, according to new research** which informs, 'Cost Oversight', a report due later this summer from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). In addition, research found that the impact on quality of life (including loss of healthy life and premature death) associated with partial sight and blindness also has a cost to society, estimated at a further £15.5bn in 2008.

Today RNIB issues a warning that with the number of people with sight loss set to double to nearly 4 million people by 2050, Government must act now to prevent avoidable blindness and stop the associated financial and social costs having a dramatic impact on the economy.

Steve Winyard, RNIB Head of Policy and Campaigns says: "Failure to invest in early detection and treatment of eye conditions, such as wet AMD and glaucoma, clearly results in the need for increased long term support for people once they have lost their sight. It also needlessly leaves people to cope with the emotional impact of losing their sight, where it could have been prevented."

Ray Liggins, 77, has wet AMD (an aggressive form of age related macular degeneration). Each year there are 26,000 new cases in the UK and left untreated it can lead to blindness in as little as three months. In 2008, following a campaign led by RNIB, NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) issued guidance, allowing Ray to get sight-saving treatment from the NHS.

Investing in his eye health now has allowed Ray to get on with his life. He says: "I was terrified when I thought I might go blind. I'd already had to give up driving and worried about who would look after me and my wife Olive. Would we even be able to stay in our home together? Since getting the treatment I've got a whole new lease of life. My sight has improved and I can drive again. I've taken up new hobbies and can enjoy looking after the grandchildren, rather than someone looking out for me."

With over five per cent of the population (1 in 20 people) expected to be blind or partially sighted by 2050, Steve Winyard continues: "In the long term, eye care services will need investment to meet the growing need. But in the current economic climate, RNIB is saying, spend wisely. Let's use more of the resources we have now to reduce the number of people who lose their sight in the first place. With fewer people needing a high level of on-going support, those who do lose their sight should then have better access to vital services such as emotional support, social care and training."

**Cost Oversight is based on research findings from the Future Sight Loss UK study, which includes two new pieces of research:
The economic impact of partial sight and blindness in the UK adult population: Henry Cutler and Lynne Pezzullo of Access Economics.
An epidemiological and economic model for sight loss in the decade 2010-2020: Darwin Minassian and Angela Reidy of EpiVision.

For details of the research visit our Future Sight Loss UK pages.

Additional information on the report and research Cost Oversight will be launched in August 2009.

The £6.5bn cost of sight loss includes the direct and indirect costs of sight loss. This figure is expected to increase by over £1bn by 2013.

For the first time the costs associated with the reduced quality of life due to sight loss have been calculated. The Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) method, also used by the World Health Organisation, measured the years of healthy life lost and premature death due to sight loss. In 2008, 190,000 years were lost. This was multiplied by Government figures on the monetary value of a healthy life year, giving a total cost of £15.5billion.

The research also looked at the projected increase in the four leading causes of sight loss in the UK. Between 2010 and 2020, sight loss in UK adults due to AMD will have risen by 31 per cent, cataracts by 20 per cent, diabetic retinopathy by 16 per cent and glaucoma by 25 per cent. However, among people of African-Caribbean origin there is predicted to be a 57 per cent increase in sight loss due to glaucoma, over the decade.

In addition to the huge problem of treatable eye disease, the research found that just wearing the correct prescription glasses could help half of those needlessly living with some sight loss.

Source
Royal National Institute of Blind People

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