The Eyes Have It Parliamentary Event

Westminster Eye Health Day saw the launch of “The Eyes Have It” partnership who held a drop-in event in Parliament. The event was hosted by my colleague Marsha De Cordova MP.

The campaign is calling for urgent action to tackle the capacity crisis in eye care. The campaign is a collaboration between, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Fight for Sight, Association of Optometrists, Royal National Institute of Blind People and the Macular Society.

As of July 2022, there are nearly 644,000 people on ophthalmology waiting lists in England – almost 10% of the NHS backlog. This includes over 28,000 people who have been waiting a year or more.

I signed their pledge for a National Plan for Eye Care in England which called for:

• Workforce Expansion – expand training places to grow the workforce.
• Using new technology – implement new models of care using new tools.
• Research into future treatments – Ensure investment in research to find the next generation of diagnosis and innovating treatments.
• Uptake of innovative treatments – Facilitate the uptake of innovative treatments to improve patient outcomes. 

You can find more information about the campaign here:

About Us | The ‘Eyes’ Have It (eyeshaveit.co.uk)