Specsavers? next 12 months previewed at SCC6

The two-day event involved a series of clinical education sessions on Saturday, with a series of special guest lectures and an exhibition the following day. Specsavers optometry director Mr Peter Larsen, who performed the role of MC on the Sunday, also outlined the direction and aims of the business for the next 12 months.{{quote-A:R-W:400-I:2-Q: [It’s] the first time that optometry has formally engaged and worked with ophthalmology, anywhere in the world, -WHO:Peter Larsen, Specsavers optometry director}}Larsen highlighted the 50% rate of undiagnosed glaucoma cases in Australia as an area for improvent, and estimated there were 150,000 people in the country who were unaware they had the disease.“Last year we invested in the ability to pull out from Oculo, our data relating to the prevalence of referral across disease types – specifically, the glaucoma referrals from each store and the individual optometrists,” he said.He explained that 115 Specsavers practices started receiving a clinical benchmark report of their prevalence of referrals 11 months ago.“The outcome of that is that for the month of July, as an isolated month, these stores referred and detected an additional 224 patients with signs of glaucoma. [It’s] the first time that optometry has formally engaged and worked with ophthalmology, anywhere in the world,” Larsen said.Larsen commended the work RANZCO had done assist the implentation of the pilot program, and said it was important to continue collaborating in order to ensure there was an agreent on diagnosis of glaucoma and accurate figures. He also previewed the anticipated rollout of OCT machines to every Specsavers Australia store and said it would ensure a better diagnosis of eye disease and better outcomes for patients.“Next year, we’ll come back and talk about how that number has gone down. How we’ve reduced the blindness of this country and also New Zealand, and how we’ve shown an example not just in this country and NZ, but globally.”