The event highlighted the collaboration between the three organisations, which have come together to raise awareness about glaucoma and establish one of the largest research undertakings ever into the scale and precedence of the disease.
Federal Health Minister Mr Greg Hunt, his opposition counterpart Ms Catherine King and Aged Care Minister Mr Ken Wyatt all attended, and director of communications for Specsavers Australia, Mr Charles Horner, said it was important for th to see the growing relationship between optometry and ophthalmology.“This was a really strong donstration of two elents of the eyecare professions, and Glaucoma Australia, collaborating really closely on a major eye disease issue,” he said.“We were able to explain the glaucoma patient pathway that RANZCO has developed and that Specsavers, along with other optometrists, has contributed to. We were able to share how we were implenting it, and how it’s impacting referral rates and diagnosis rates.”Horner also said the event provided a good opportunity to explain to MPs Specsavers’ plan to introduce an OCT machine into every Australian store over the next three years. It’s expected the roll out will facilitate the world’s largest ‘every-patient’ glaucoma screening program, and that the resulting data will be likely to provide new insights into the disease and its prevalence in Australia.“It’s all about getting the best possible patient outcomes. We’ll be able to share data that’s never been seen before and that makes a big difference. If you can provide evidence of outcomes to government, that’s got to be helpful,” Horner said.
Following the event, Minister Hunt praised the collaborative efforts of the ophthalmology and optometry sectors and stressed the importance of addressing eye health inequalities in Indigenous communities. He also asked RANZCO to develop a national plan to eradicate avoidable blindness, including from treatable eye diseases such as glaucoma, in those communities.Aside from allowing politicians to have an insight into the technical aspects of eyecare, the eye examinations also proved practically useful, with a number of suspicious markers discovered in the eyes of some participants.Glaucoma affects 300,000 Australians, with that number expected to rise to 400,000 by 2025. However, due to a lack of early symptoms, around half of all glaucoma cases rain undiagnosed.Gallery
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