Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 April 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle (a) Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and (b) other forms of avoidable blindness.
(a) The Scottish Government is committed to providing high quality eye care throughout Scotland. The eye examination, introduced in 2006, is free to all UK residents and assesses not only whether or not a patient requires glasses/contact lenses, but provides a full eye health assessment which can help identify treatable eye conditions at an early stage in their development. An Optometrist will screen patients for conditions such as Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and refer those with the disease to the hospital eye service for lifelong treatment.
(b) The Scottish Government introduced its long-term strategy for meeting the needs of people with deafness and/or sight loss, See Hear, in April 2014. The Strategy was backed by £2 million of Scottish Government funding over 2014-15 and 2015-16, which was allocated equitably across the country to support implementation, with a further £320,000 in 2016-17 to continue to support the delivery.
To further develop eyecare services in Scotland, in August 2016 I announced a Review of community eyecare services. This is in the context of developments we are making to primary care and will look at what more can be done to ensure that patients can receive more treatment in a community setting where appropriate, improving patient outcomes and removing some of the burden from secondary care.