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Prevention of Avoidable Sight Loss

Challenges and Opportunities in Scotland - Today and Beyond

Gozie Joe Adigwe

Preventions Officer

RNIB Scotland

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What is the case for prevention?

• 50% of sight loss - avoidable, up to 150,000• Aging population - across UK, more so in

Scotland• Increasing ethnic diversity• Stubborn persistence of health inequalities -

deprivation and accessing services are key• Cost - personal, social, economic

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•Key Statistics - Population

•Over the last 100 years the proportion of Scotland's population aged under 15 has fallen from 32% to 16% while the proportion aged 65 and over has increased from 5% to 17%.•www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/en/censusresults/bulletin.html.

•Between 2010 and 2035 those aged 75 and over are projected to increase by 82%. The estimated 820 centenarians in Scotland in 2010 is projected to increase to 7,600 by 2035.

•The proportion of Scotland‘s population which is of pensionable age is projected to increase by 2.9 percentage points between 2010 and 2035, compared with a 1.7 percentage point rise for the UK.•National Records of Scotland. Written submission.

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Key Statistics - Ethnicity

Black minority ethnic groups, Census Data, Scotland

Numbers by Health Board• Glasgow - 88,464• Orkney - 156• Lanark - 11,500• Lothian - 46, 899• Western Isles - 245

2001 2.1% 101,700

2011 4% 211,000

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Key Statistics - Deprivation

•41% of Glasgow datazones - bottom 15% of most deprived areas in Scotland

•On income-based measures, Pakistanis/Bangladeshis and Black African households in Scotland have higher rates of poverty than other ethnic groups

•' ..Although the policy encouraged more people to have eye tests, or have more regular eye tests, there are notable differences across socio-economic groups... As a result inequality in eye care utilisation has actually risen...'

Utilisation of eye-care services: The effect of Scotland’s free eye examination policy, D Hickey

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•Key Statistics (cont.)

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DiabetesDiabetes

• There are now more people living with diabetes in Scotland than coronary heart disease - circ 248,000.

• There is an increased prevalence of non-insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes in people of South Asian origin - 16.5% compared with 4.7% in the White population.

• 19.3 per cent of people initially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes already had signs of retinopathy.

Prevention?

• Promote understanding risk factors and links between diabetes and sight loss.

• Targeted, long term approach with a focus on ethnicity, deprivation and undiagnosed disease.

• Truly collaborative approach to enhance the reach of eye health messages.

• Service commissioners study local demographics to target prevention effectively.

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Opportunities

• Increase eye health as a public health priority - Primary prevention• Targeted health campaigns - innovate and collaborate• Holistic approach to 'at risk' groups including referrals to income

maximisation services, housing, vision and emotional support - Secondary prevention

• Finding different ways to get data and analyse it - Electronic referral between optometry and ophthalmology

• Consider further development of community optometry role -

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