One of the country’s largest optometry networks has teamed up with Macular Disease Foundation Australia in an Australian-first, supporting nAMD suspects to attend their first ophthalmology appointment and help with treatment adherence. With the pilot phase deemed a success, what’s next for the project?
For the past two years, Specsavers has worked with Macular Disease Foundation Australia (MDFA) to better understand and classify its patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) through a pilot project involving 16 practices spread across Australia.
During the pilot project, the patients referred joined an intensive support journey, which included regular phone calls, emails, text messages and letters from MDFA’s patient education team.
Following the conclusion of the project, a number of key learnings emerged, including improved classifications of AMD, discussing diagnosis and support with patients, as well as observing the value patients felt when optometry and patient support services work together.
Specsavers optometry director Dr Ben Ashby was not surprised by the latter finding, having seen the value of Specsavers working together with several leading patient support groups across Australia for many years.
“Increasingly patients expect to be advised by their optometrist if they should engage with a patient support service such as MDFA,” he says.
“Often a diagnosis, or even a call to watch and monitor a condition, can leave a patient still processing the information, with questions coming to them after they’ve left the test room. That’s where the value of specialist support services come in, especially between appointments, where trained specialists can provide an extension of care to patients.”
Dr Ben Ashby, Specsavers.
“Collaboration with patient support bodies is essential for any health provider that wants to be authentically patient-centred.”
With a condition such as age-related macular degeneration, where symptoms can occur incredibly sudden and early intervention is crucial to saving sight, Ashby says it can be a lot for a patient to digest.
“Often many patients haven’t even heard of the condition before talking with their optometrist. Which is why it was so valuable through our partnership with MDFA, these patients had a specially trained educator contact them and so were able to have their questions answered and any issues or concerns raised,” he says.
“This made them feel a lot more comfortable and led to them being more likely to continue with treatment or attend appointments they were feeling nervous about.”
Ashby continues: “Collaboration with patient support bodies is essential for any health provider that wants to be authentically patient-centred, because as we have learnt, between optometrists, ophthalmologists and other involved health professionals, patients often feel that they don’t know who is managing them. We’re all part of the eye health team, so we all need to work together for our patients. In the case of our pilot, having MDFA as the central and autonomous contact really helped patients understand they had a central port of call who could assist with anything they may be facing.”
Dr Kathy Chapman, MDFA.
MDFA CEO Dr Kathy Chapman agrees that the findings of the pilot showed the value of non-clinical support.
“Over the past two years we’ve invested in research to hear directly from people with macular disease, the people who care for them, and the people who treat them. Coupled with the experiences of our pilot with Specsavers, we are using this information to develop the very first patient support program for all people living with macular disease – based on their own needs and experiences,” she says.
“With partnerships like this one, patients know they are getting the very best of care whether they are in the clinic or at home.
“We know optometrists and ophthalmologists provide the highest quality of clinical care for patients; MDFA aims to be there for the rest, providing evidence-based support for how to live well with macular disease. Our focus will be on three pillars of support – social, emotional and practical – tailored to a person’s own situation. This partnership provides a 360-degree approach to patient care, striving to achieve the best health outcomes for our patients.”
Next steps
Following on from the nAMD pilot project, Specsavers and MDFA are committed to continuing their partnership and focus on collaboration to enhance patient health outcomes.
Ashby says he is keen to take key learnings from the pilot and extend them to a wider base of patients with the disease.
“We’re now entering a phase where, through collaborating with MDFA, we will work toward further improving the health outcomes of more of our patients,” he says.
“As optometrists we can’t stand back and watch our patients experience vision loss that could have been prevented, we must do all we can to prevent vision loss. We are very fortunate to have similarly minded partners in Australia’s eye health industry and we look forward to working with them to change lives through better vision into the future.”
