Glaucoma NICE Guidelines (July 2009)
To improve the standard of care for glaucoma patients in the United Kingdom The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has released guidelines to ensure all patients receive a consistent standard of care no matter where they are treated in the National Health Service.
It is known that patients with raised intraocular pressure can be prone to developing glaucoma and as a precaution patients are now referred at an earlier stage than previously. This is to ensure that there is no evidence of glaucoma. This unfortunately can cause undue anxiety for the patient while they wait for an appointment. If there is no evidence of glaucoma detected by the optometrist, then the patient is unlikely to have glaucoma and should be reassured that this is referral is a precaution due often to a one off high pressure reading.
The full guidelines are available at
http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG85PublicInfoEnglish.pdf.
Mr Kiel follows these guidelines and in some cases the standard of care is exceeded.
These guidelines are continually being monitored and the latest advice given to optometrist is available at their website here.
There has recently been further guidance regarding the practicalities of referring
patients -
