Having asked the country’s four major political parties several optical health-related questions, Eye Health Aotearoa (EHA) reported all agreed to support New Zealand’s first national eye health survey if funding allowed, with the Greens outright agreeing they would fund it.

Parties were asked to give yes/no responses to eight questions and invited to make an additional 150-word statement. An EHA statement said the Green Party followed the format precisely, with part of its statement reading, “Successive governments have left primary healthcare to private providers and many people now cannot afford to access dental or eye care. The time is now to invest in our collective health and wellbeing so everyone can lead a healthy life…”.

Responding to the eye-health-specific questions:

• Would your party expand the ENABLE spectacle subsidy for myopia management to provide specialised myopia prevention spectacles for people who face financial barriers?
• Would your party improve access to eye healthcare services by subsidising the cost of eye health examinations and glasses for community service cardholders?
• Would your party implement a consistent national diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening programme

The Greens said 'yes'; Labour said, 'Yes, in principle, as workforce and funding allows'; National said it's not their policy and didn't respond to the DR screening question; and ACT said it had no policy to implement DR screening but supports expanding both the ENABLE and eye examinations subsidies, subject to a cost-benefit analysis.

For the full report, go to: https://www.eyehealthaotearoa.org.nz/political_party_survey_2023