In a new position paper, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists calls for leadership from the profession and the healthcare industry to develop best practice in sustainability and integrate this into ophthalmic service redesign.
"Sustainability in Ophthalmology" identifies redesign and decentralisation of outpatient services as an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions, pointing out that ophthalmology is one of the highest volume outpatient specialties with many patient journeys for chronic diseases. Similarly, ophthalmology has a high surgical throughput, with cataract surgery being the commonest elective procedure in the NHS, usually performed with a high disposable instrument and supporting materials component also increasing carbon footprint. Given that over 300 000 cataract surgeries are performed in the UK each year, this is an ideal area in which to target carbon reduction strategies, and a carbon footprint study of cataract surgery is already in press.
The authors also discuss the potential benefits of Glaucoma Referral Refinement, and the importance of information technology in enabling transformational change. One example given is a pilot teleophthalmology service incorporating digital images into optometry referrals, which resulted in a 37% reduction in hospital visits.
The paper was put together by a group of eye care professionals, collaborating with public health professionals, pharmaceutical representatives and academics. The specialty is already developing a published literature on sustainable eye care, and future publications aim to map out the carbon footprint of various eye care services including cataract surgery and glaucoma community care. CSH hopes in future to be able to offer a Sustainable Specialties Fellowship in Ophthalmology, in collaboration with the University of Warwick.
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