Vision 2020 Australia and Diabetes Australia, with support from the Centre for Eye Research Australia, are calling on the Australian Government to support a national Diabetes Blindness Prevention Initiative by providing $1.5 million over two years for the establishment of limited life Taskforce.
By harnessing strong leadership from experts in the diabetes, eye health and vision care sectors, the Initiative will coordinate and facilitate effective linkages between members of the health care team to ensure improved eye health outcomes for Australians with diabetes. Further, the Initiative will facilitate wider consumer engagement to better identify those not currently engaged with the health care system.
Eye examinations will be provided by optometrists, ophthalmologists and general practitioners (GPs), as is currently the case. However, the Initiative will work to identify ways in which clinicians and services could be supported and encouraged to upload retinal photographs, optical coherence tomography scans, and screening outcomes to My Health Records, closing the loop between primary health care teams.