A review of emergency department visits across Australia in 2016-17 reveals that almost 120,000 people presented for eye conditions, of which just over 19,640 were considered non-urgent. While Optometry Australia, the peak professional body for optometrists, is concerned with the amount of people seeking help from emergency departments for eye health issues, it is encouraged by a noticeable 25% drop in the number presenting with non-urgent conditions over the past three years.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s annual Emergency Department Care Report, in 2015-16, emergency departments across Australia were presented with just over 25,200 non-urgent eye health issues, compared with 26,000 in 2014-15. Between 2015-16 and 2016-17, emergency departments also saw 1.5% less presentations for eye-related conditions across all diagnostic block and triage categories.
Lyn Brodie, Optometry Australia’s chief executive officer, said; “We anticipate that this drop in non-urgent presentations could relate to people’s better understanding of the important role of optometrists in managing Australian’s eye health and that more people are seeking opinions of optometrists for acute eye conditions rather than attend emergency departments”.
In 2016-17, there were 8.89 million eye-related Medicare consultations, an increase of almost 7.7% over the three years since 2014-15.
