MPs and Lords call for eye research funding
Professor Rupert Bourne
A cross-party group of MPs and Lords is calling on the government to address the increasing issue of eye disease by supporting a first-ever survey of the UK population’s sensory health.
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Vision Impairment, led by shadow women and equalities secretary, Marsha de Cordova MP, wrote to secretary of state for health and social care, Matt Hancock MP, on World Sight Day (8 October) to make the case for the UK National Eye Health and Hearing Study (UKNEHS).
The letter highlights new research in pre-print with The Lancet that shows global blindness and severe vision impairment is set to double by 2050, and the ongoing high cost to the UK of vision and hearing impairment – estimated to be around £58bn – which is partly due to not having enough reliable data to accurately estimate need and commission appropriate health services.
The UK has never surveyed the extent of eye disease across its population, instead relying on data from other countries to predict its own situation. The UKNEHS will address the urgent need for high quality, current data on eye and hearing health, but requires funding to do so.
Rupert Bourne, professor of ophthalmology at Anglia Ruskin University and chief investigator for the UKNEHS, said: “2020 is a key year for eye care as it marks the end of the decade-long Vision 2020 project, supported by the World Health Organisation, aimed at reducing avoidable vision impairment worldwide.
“At least half of all vision impairment is avoidable and issues relating to eye and hearing health cost the UK a huge amount of money every year. We could cut that significantly if there was robust and current data that allowed us to accurately assess the population’s needs.
“At a crucial time when Covid-19 is rapidly scaling up this unmet need, we call upon the government to lend its support to the UKNEHS and provide a timely boost to the nation’s sensory health.”
Read the letter to Matt Hancock MP here.