A home visiting opticians 2022 year in review

2022 has been an exciting year for Opticall Eyecare

What an exciting year it has been for the team at Opticall Eyecare. Following two difficult years of the COVID pandemic, we were almost able to provide a full year of eyecare support with minimal interruption from Coronavirus limitations. During 2022, we have recruited new members to add to our growing team, and they continue to support us in the growth of Opticall Eyecare and, most importantly, support our patient list. 

We are also proud to announce that we will soon be launching an online platform for care home staff. Our free ‘Visual Awareness Training; for your care team can be conducted either online or in person, depending on your requirements, and will cover the following topics: 

• Awareness of common eye conditions (with the use of simulation spectacles) and how this may affect a resident’s daily lifestyle
• Insight into why glasses are so important for those that need them
• Understanding the importance of their role in making sure residents are wearing the correct eyewear

These sessions will last between 30-45 minutes, and upon participation and completion, all staff will be issued with a certificate. 

Finally, Opticall Eyecare are excited to say we are going paperless! Our online platform is up and running, supporting us to continue to communicate with our patients and care homes in an appropriate and informative way whilst reducing our carbon footprint. 

Let’s finish up our final blog of the year with a round-up of some of our favourite 2022 blogs! 

Just how important is it to get a good night’s sleep?

As part of world sleep day, Opticall Eyecare brought you the best tips and guidance to get a great night’s sleep – it’s more important than you think! Let’s take a look at that advice to help you over the Christmas period. 

It is important for your eyes to get a good quality of sleep because it helps them recover from eye strain and blurry vision from reading, driving, scrolling on your phone or working on your computer, and dry eyes from air-conditioning in offices and cars. The benefits of sleeping are that it gives your eyes time to rest and to rehydrate with moisture from natural tears. A lack of sleep can cause burst blood vessels in your eyes which gives them a red and bloodshot appearance and discomfort.

We need to aim to get at least 5 hours of sleep per night (7-8 hours is ideal), so here we have some tips for keeping your eyes healthy by getting some good quality sleeping time under your belt.

• Limit your screen time and access to blue light/artificial light before bedtime (ideally 2 hours before bed) so your eyes can prepare for the change in light/time of day and can get ready for sleep.
• Exercise regularly to help your body unwind at the end of the day.
• Avoid eating 3 hours before you go to bed; this is because the digestion of the food takes time and energy to do.
• Avoid alcohol before bed, as it will give you a poor-quality sleeping pattern.
• Introduce good sleeping habits, such as going to bed and waking at the same time, so your body gets into a healthy sleeping routine.

Your opticians guide to caregivers and care homes

As a caregiver, it is important to be aware of your resident’s vision and any deterioration to it that would affect their eye health and general quality of life. Due to the nature of your work in a care home with older adults, you will notice that your resident’s eyesight will naturally deteriorate with age, and they are susceptible to eye conditions.

Healthy Lifestyle – Everyone should try to maintain a healthy lifestyle for their physical and mental health, especially as they become older. To maintain a healthy quality of life, it is important to eat a balanced, healthy diet full of important vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Ask your healthcare team to check out our blog on Food for Good Eyesight for more tips.

Protecting your eyes from the sun – One important part of eye care services that you should provide to your residents is to help them protect their sight from the harmful UV rays of the sun. Ensuring that your residents wear sunglasses can help to reduce the risk of them developing more serious health conditions in their eyes, such as cataracts, macular degeneration and conjunctival cancers. We go into detail about how you can avoid your residents getting their sight impaired in the sun in our Protecting your eyes from the sun blog.  

Regular Eye Exams – It is important for your residents to have regular, thorough eye examinations with an eye care professional so that any changes in their vision can be identified and helped quickly. Opticall advises you to organise regular eye tests for your residents as it enables us to detect and diagnose any medical conditions such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.

National surveys tell us that over 30% of people want to be more involved in decisions about their care; this situation has hardly changed in a decade. In addition, research studies have consistently shown that when people are more involved in decisions they:

• have fewer regrets about decisions;
• report better relationships with clinicians;
• adhere better to treatment; and
• report a better experience, including more satisfaction with the outcome

In other words, shared decision-making has a fundamental impact on the safety and effectiveness of personalised care.

This means that by involving people in decisions about their health and care, we will improve health and well-being, improve the quality of care and ensure people make informed use of available healthcare resources. Involving people in their own health and care not only adds value to people’s lives but also creates value for the taxpayer. The challenge now is to shift the focus of care and support services from ‘what is the matter with you?’ towards ‘what matters to you?’

Living with tunnel vision and other visual impairments

Many of us have heard of the term tunnel vision, but it’s often used when someone is focused on a task and seemingly blind to other things going on around them. What many may not be aware of is that tunnel vision syndrome is actually a concerning and somewhat scary eye condition where a person’s central vision is there, but their peripheral (side) vision is missing causing blind spots in their sight. These vision problems can affect one eye or both and are rather alarming to live with – particularly if it’s never been experienced before.

Unfortunately, there is no one cause of peripheral vision loss. There are many causes that can be the reason for peripheral vision loss, but these will not be identified without a visit to your opticians.

Someone who is visually impaired has a vision that affects their ability to perform normal activities of daily living. Some of the causes of their visual impairment or loss of vision can be related to older adulthood when your visual acuity (the sharpness of your eyesight) deteriorates or eye conditions such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetes and cataracts.

As a caregiver, it is often a worry to know if you are doing everything you can to support someone with visual impairment. If you work in a care home or you’re a carer for a loved one, you will always want to ensure that the person has independence and positive levels of life satisfaction.

This may also interest you:

What do individuals with tunnel vision actually see?

An Opticall guide to protecting the elderly during fireworks season

Stoptober – how does smoking affect your eyesight?

Happy Christmas from your home-visiting opticians

Opticall Eyecare has had such an exciting year bringing you the latest in advice and guidance, whether you are a long-term Opticall client or a care home needing support. With 2023 just around the corner, we are already planning some great new content for all our followers. Until then, the Opticall Eyecare team would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Christmas and New Year!