Get Checked for National Eye Health Week, Urges AM

Get your eyes checked for National Eye Health Week, is the message from a local politician.

Carl Sargeant, AM for Alyn and Deeside, is backing the awareness week – which takes place between September 18 and 24 – by urging constituents to have regular sight tests.

Now in its eight year, National Eye Health Week brings organisations and health professionals from across Wales and the UK together to raise awareness of the importance of good eye health and the need for regular sight tests.

Regular sight tests provide the basis for maintaining good eye health, as some serious eye conditions do not have any visible early warning symptoms.
Having a sight test with an optometrist should be part of everyone’s health care routine.

In Wales, there are 106,980 people living with sight loss which is significant enough to impact their daily lives.

This includes people who may not be wearing the right prescription glasses or contact lenses, people waiting for cataract operations and people living with partial sight or blindness.

In Flintshire there are 5,160 people with sight loss, 3.3 per cent of the county’s population. The highest percentage is in Conwy where the figure is 4.6 per cent and the lowest in Cardiff where it is 2.6 per cent.

Approximately 250 people in the UK, including 3 people in Wales lose their sight every day.

A new report published by the RNIB and high street opticians Specsavers shows that one in five people will live with sight loss in their lifetime despite at least half of all cases being avoidable.

Carl Sargeant said:

“I’m happy to back National Eye Health Week in their bid to encourage everyone to have regular eye checks as part of their health routine.”

Ceri Jackson, Director RNIB Cymru said:

“Sight is incredibly precious and we live in an increasingly visual world. It is the sense we fear losing the most yet many of us don’t realise how best to look after our eyes.

I’m delighted that Carl Sargeant has pledged his support and hope that as many people as possible can join us during the week to raise awareness of this important campaign which will help stop people losing their sight unnecessarily.”