Ahead of the upcoming 2023-24 Federal Budget, Vision 2020 Australia is continuing to push federal policymakers to implement a nationwide vision screening plan the peak body has developed for all 3.5 to 5-year-old children.
The call forms part of a six-pronged submission from the body representing around 50 eye health member organisations, which is also advocating for investments to increase access to publicly funded sight-saving eyecare, end avoidable vision loss and blindness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and strengthen Australian eye research.
It’s also calling for improved health systems in the Indo-Pacific and accessibility and inclusion for people who are blind or have low vision.
As Insight reported in February, the Vision 2020 Australia National Framework for Vision Screening for 3.5 – 5-year-olds, published in November 2021, is based on the NSW Statewide Eyesight Preschool Screening Program (StEPS). The organisation included its full framework in its Federal Budget submission, stating, if adopted, it would “provide an essential foundation for effective vision screening programs nationwide”.
“Vision 2020 Australia is requesting the Commonwealth and state governments adopt the framework and ensure implementation in each jurisdiction,” the organisation said.
“We know that vision loss has life-long implications. In a study completed in 2016, Deloitte Access Economics found a 17-year-old living in Australia with a vision impairment received $53,916 less in real lifetime earnings than a person without vision impairment.
“Children’s vision screening programs in Australia have demonstrated good return on investment, decreasing blindness in children and outweighing associated health care costs. However, there is no consistent, national evidence-based approach to screening and in some jurisdictions, there is no screening at all, resulting in inconsistent outcomes for Australian children.”
The submission also urged the government to help enhance the eye health workforce and improve infrastructure for public access to eyecare. This included a pilot of a multi-disciplinary collaborative model for eye disease management focusing on providing timely and culturally appropriate healthcare in the right setting by an appropriate provider.
Additionally, it called for $2.5 million to pilot an eyecare specific electronic medical record system in a metropolitan and a regional public hospital to improve data collection and reduce wait times through improved assessment and collaborative triage.
“Vision 2020 Australia also calls for changes to MBS items 701, 703, 705 and 707 to make vision checks a requirement of chronic health checks. This would align with MBS item 715 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and the impacts on associated optometric MBS billing would be minimal (0.7% increase on current billing rates).”
Meanwhile, the peak body highlighted Australia’s world class talent in vision and eye research. However, it said vision loss is not funded in either the first or second MRFF 10-year Investment Plan.
“Investment in eye health clinical trials and the translation of pre-clinical innovations provide a good return on investment, with every $1 spent returning a $10 economic gain (2009 figures).”
It called for a $150 million investment over 10 years to fund research through the establishment of a dedicated Eye Disease and Vision Loss Mission within the MRFF.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health was a major tenet of the submission, which Vision 2020 Australia said required $73.6 million for several initiatives.
One of them is an additional 12,300 outreach ophthalmology services through the Medical Outreach Indigenous Chronic Disease Program (MOICDP), Eye and Ear Surgical Support Services (EESSS) and Rural Health Outreach Fund (RHOF). And enabling consultations, treatment (including cataract surgery) and follow-up care at regional and district hospitals to ensure Indigenous people receive ophthalmology services ($24.6 million over five years).
“Vision loss costs the Australian economy $27.6 billion annually. The main causes can be attributed to five preventable and/or readily treatable conditions,” Vision 2020 Australia stated.
“Failures in government policy and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to growing wait lists for eyecare services and treatment which means key opportunities to prevent avoidable blindness are being missed. Addressing inequities in eyecare will help reduce health spending and free up resources, prevent conditions and injuries that cost us more in the long term.”
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