Leverage KeepSight to help combat diabetes related eye disease

This week is National Diabetes Week and Optometry Australia is urging all members to sign up to the KeepSight program, a national eye health awareness and recall program targeting Australians with diabetes. Involvement in KeepSight will complement and bolster the ongoing care that optometrists provide to patients.

Launched in 2018, KeepSight was developed to encourage the 1.3 million Australians registered on the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) to schedule regular comprehensive eye examinations with an optometrist or other eye health professional, to detect and treat diabetic retinopathy and diabetic related eye conditions.

KeepSight provides an important opportunity to leverage the NDSS to deliver a direct reminder to registrants to have an eye examination with an eye health provider. We are encouraging members to capitalise on this opportunity, ensuring their local community are aware of the services they can provide.

Optometry Australia’s CEO, Lyn Brodie said, ‘KeepSight is a tangible program for helping Australians with diabetes access the regular eye care they need.

‘The program builds awareness about the need for regular eye examinations and provides targeted reminders to support people with diabetes to access eye care and prevent diabetes related vision loss,’ said Lyn.

KeepSight also represents an opportunity for the NDSS and Diabetes Australia to complement the care optometrists provide their patients. By ensuring your patients with diabetes are registered with KeepSight, they will receive an additional reminder to return to your practice when their next eye examination is due.

To date over 150,000 people have signed up to the program with the vast majority of these patients registered by their optometrist, highlighting how critical the profession’s role is in the management of diabetes related eye disease.

Luxottica Retail recently announced that all its practices were joining KeepSight. Specsavers was the first corporate network on board when the program was launched.

‘We are pleased to see more and more practices joining KeepSight. Getting involved in these types of programs is beneficial for both the optometrist and their patients. It further cements the role optometry plays in managing diabetic eye disease’, Lyn said.

Members that have an interest in diabetes care are also reminded to update their membership details to highlight this interest to prospective patients who are searching for an optometrist using our Find an Optometrist search platform.

Diabetic eye disease remains the leading cause of blindness in working age Australians, and between 300,000 and 400,000 people in Australia have some degree of diabetic retinopathy, however only around 50% of people with diabetes schedule the regular eye examinations they need.

To find out more about KeepSight please visit www.keepsight.org.au.