The number of people in Ireland with sight loss is projected to increase substantially as the overall population ages. Both Irish and international data indicate a marked increase in the frequency of blindness and vision impairment with advancing age. There are currently an estimated 225,000 people living with low vision and sight loss in Ireland. This is projected to increase to 271,996 by 2020. Included within this, there are approximately 13,000 blind people living in Ireland today, this number is expected to increase to 18,000 by 2020. A key objective of the Programme is to move towards the elimination of avoidable sight loss thereby reducing these figures and the subsequent economic and social cost.
Ophthalmic Objectives:
- Move towards the elimination of avoidable sight loss
- Rebalance service delivery to focus on prevention and early intervention
- Provide equitable access to efficient high quality care, supports and treatment
- Improve the quality of care to all users
- Improve cost effectiveness
