The Scottish budget has included a record £144m for optometry services.

Through a new Community Low Vision Service (CLVS), people with visual impairments will receive care closer to home. The rollout will be supported by record investment of £144 million across all community eyecare in this year’s Draft Budget.

Development work has already begun on the service, which will allow patients with visual impairment, that cannot be managed through glasses, lenses or surgery, to be supported by community optometrists instead of in a hospital setting.

The CLVS will build on the success of community eyecare services already in place, the Community Glaucoma Service (CGS) and Anterior Eye Service. 

Health secretary Neil Gray said: “The introduction of our new low vision service is a significant step forward in our efforts to have more people treated in the community and close to home instead of a hospital setting. This new service will complement the programmes we already have in place – our Anterior Eye Service and Community Glaucoma Service – which together we anticipate will allow an estimated 40,000 patients to be treated closer to home.

“We know this delivers better outcomes and we want community optometrists to be the first port of call for all eye-related conditions - the national roll-out out of these services, backed by £144 million for the sector, will help free up substantial capacity in our hospitals.

“It has been nearly 20 years since free universal NHS-funded eye examinations were introduced in Scotland and we remain the only country in the UK to provide this vital service. We will maintain this crucial policy and I would remind people of the importance of having regular examinations which can help with early detection of a range of sight and non-sight threatening conditions.”