Sight loss 'costs' £6.5bn - RNIB

By Geoff Adams-Spink
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

Preventing sight loss will ultimately save money, RNIB says

A major UK charity says the cost of sight loss to the economy runs into billions of pounds.

The Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) is also predicting that there will be almost 4m people with sight loss by 2050.

It is urging the government to act now to prevent "avoidable" blindness.

The government says it has cut waiting times for cataract surgery, and people with wet AMD now have access to medication under new guidelines.

Let's use more of the resources we have now to reduce the number of people who lose their sight in the first place Steve Winyard RNIB

RNIB's research is part of a report due out later in the summer called Cost Oversight.

Its research calculates the cost to the economy of eye disease and sight loss to be almost £6.5bn last year.

This figure includes the direct and indirect costs of sight loss, and is expected to increase by a further £1bn by 2013.

If factors like loss of health and premature death are taken into account - using World Health Organisation and government figures - the charity estimates that it cost a further £15.5bn in 2008.

Dramatic impact

It says the government must act now to prevent avoidable blindness, and its associated financial and social costs, having a "dramatic impact" on the economy.

"Failure to invest in early detection and treatment of eye conditions, such as wet AMD and glaucoma, clearly results in the need for increased, long-term support for people once they have lost their sight," said Steve Winyard, RNIB's head of campaigns.

Mr Winyard says it also results in people having to cope with the emotional impact of losing their sight when it could have been prevented.

There are 26,000 new cases of wet AMD - an aggressive form of age-related macular degeneration - in the UK every year.

If it is left untreated, it can result in blindness in as little as three months.

"In the long-term, eye care services will need investment to meet the growing need," said Mr Winyard.

"Let's use more of the resources we have now to reduce the number of people who lose their sight in the first place - with fewer people needing a high-level of on-going support, those who do lose their sight should then have better access to vital services such as emotional support, social care and training."

The Department of Health says that it recognises that there is growing demand for eye care as people live longer.

"This presents a real challenge for the health and social care system," a spokesperson said.

The Department says that it supports the aims of the UK Vision Strategy to prevent avoidable blindness, improve services and social inclusion.

The UK Vision Strategy is being overseen by a group comprised of voluntary sector representatives, eye care professionals, the NHS and social care professionals.

Since December 2008, according to the government, the time from referral to the start of treatment is now 18 weeks.