Eye Care Service in
Scotland: Did the Scots Get it Right?
The Team
Dr
Alexandros Zangelidis (Principal investigator) (a.zangelidis@abdn[dot]ac[dot]uk)
Dr Heather
Dickey (Co-investigator) (h.dickey@abdn[dot]ac[dot]uk)
Dr Divine
Ikenwilo (Co-investigator) (d.ikenwilo@abdn[dot]ac[dot]uk)
Dr Verity
Watson (Co-investigator) (v.watson@abdn[dot]ac[dot]uk)
Project Summary
In April 2006 the Scottish Executive, working
towards the VISION 2020 declaration of eliminating avoidable blindness by the
year 2020, introduced free eye care in Scotland and commissioned private
ophthalmic optician practices to perform eye examinations. The examination
provided by the optometrists is not a simple sight test, but a thorough
examination that allows the health of the patient's eyes to be assessed, and to
look for signs of other health problems. The introduction of free NHS eye
examinations in Scotland was expected to encourage wider use of optometry
services and that the majority of patients would benefit from regular sight
testing. So far, no attempt has been made to evaluate the impact of this policy
in Scotland. This project aims to assess the success of free eye care in
Scotland and to examine how people respond to the policy both as eye care
patients and consumers in the optician market.
Funding
This research project has been awarded a grant of
£43,034 by the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) (Grant reference: CZG/2/533) for
the period July 2011 to June 2012.
Contact
For further information on the project activities
and research outcome, please contact Dr Alexandros Zangelidis.