Optometry Australia has welcomed the launch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists’ (RANZCO) Vision for Australia’s eye healthcare to 2030 and beyond.
The document, launched at RANZCO’s 53rd Annual Scientific Congress in Brisbane on 29 October 2022, outlines the College’s understanding of why our healthcare system is failing vulnerable Australians and the changes needed to address this problem. Additionally, it explored how the system needs to change to meet increasing demand for services over the coming decades and highlighted the need for high-value, collaborative models of outpatient care, in order to facilitate equitable access to public eye healthcare services. The College also committed to working with key stakeholders, including Optometry Australia, Orthoptics Australia and the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to achieve this.
Optometry Australia’s policy platform, Working Together for Better Eye Care, has also identified the need to integrate successful collaborative care models between ophthalmologists and optometrists into the mainstream health system for patients, as critical to making a genuine difference in providing timely eye care for Australians.
Optometry Australia President Margaret Lam said, “We look forward to working closely with RANZCO to breathe life into these commitments and to identify ways we can support, develop and embed collaborative models of care based on existing research and experience in Australia and internationally”.
