1. Welsh Low Vision Service: six month audit Barbara Ryan 1, Tom H Margrain 1, John M Wild 1 and Richard N Roberts 2 1. Cardiff School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales 2. The National Assembly Government in Wales. Results 1) Who used the service? gender (Figure 1) 61 (61%) people were female, 39 (39%) were male. age Figure 2 shows the age distribution of people who used the service. Most (93%) were over the age of 60. None were under 18 years old. eye condition (Table 1) One of the records reviewed did not record a diagnosis in the tick box section provided Of the other 99: 66.7% (66) had one eye condition only; 28.3% (28) had 2 eye conditions; and 5.05% (5) had 3 eye conditions. visual Acuity 73 (73%) people had a binocular distance visual acuity (VA) better than 6/60; 18 (18%) had a binocular distance VA of 6/60 through to 3/60; and 9 (9%) had a binocular distance VA less than 3/60. social situation 46 (46%) people lived alone; 42 (42%) people lived with a partner or friend and 12 (12%) lived with a relative. 2) Accessing the service - who referred people? Over half of the people using the service in the first 6 months had been referred by their optometrist (Table 2). 3) Spectacles Prescribed No information about the prescription of spectacles was available on 17 of the 100 records. Of the remaining 83 records: spectacles were prescribed to 19 people (22.9%); and not to 64 (77.1%) people. Actions changes were made to the standard record card to encourage better recording of some information; practitioners were given more advice about how information should be recorded on the record cards; uptake of the service has been very good. However, more referrals from individuals themselves and social care and education professionals are being encouraged through talks, multi-disciplinary training days and developing a service user web site; and a Children’s Low Vision Advocate is encouraging better use of the service by children and is providing multi- disciplinary training courses around Wales on paediatric low vision. Conclusions most of the people using the Welsh Low Vision Service are over 60 years, nearly half lived alone and there were more women than men; the spectacle prescribing rate is similar to that previously reported for secondary care services; and improvements in the service delivery and information recording are being implemented. Introduction A previous review of low vision services in Wales showed that the main problems were: restricted access due to convoluted referral routes; long waiting times; and poor geographical distribution of services. In recognition of these factors the National Assembly Government in Wales funded the implementation of an all Wales Low Vision Service. The new service began in the summer of 2004 and is based in community optometry practices. Access has been optimised by: ensuring a good geographical spread of practitioners; accepting referrals from a range of professionals and from individuals themselves; and waiting times for most people are less than 2 weeks. During the initial 6 months, 1166 people from all over Wales had a low vision assessment in one of 121 community practices. At the same time, the number of accredited practitioners increased from 33 to 105. This poster summarises findings from a 6 month audit of the service. Methods Objectives 1) to determine the demographics of people using the Welsh Low Vision Service in the first six months. 2) to determine if spectacle prescribing rates were comparable to secondary care (about 20%). 3) to determine who referred people to the service. The audit The service is administered centrally by Carmarthenshire Local Health Board (LHB). Practitioners use a standard record card and key information is entered onto a computer database in Carmarthenshire LHB. Signed consent is received to use information from individual record cards and ethical approval has been received from the South East Wales Research Ethics Committee. Six months after the first person was seen by the service, 100 records were randomly selected and reviewed by the clinician responsible for training and accrediting the practitioners. Information about the patient, who referred them and whether they were prescribed spectacles during the low vision assessment was recorded. Table 2 Eye Conditions recorded for people who used the service July – Dec 2004 Table 1 Source of referrals to the service July – Dec 2004 Figure 1 The gender of people who used the service July – Dec 2004. Figure 2 The age of people who used the service July – Dec 2004. Figure 3 The registration status of people who used the service July – Dec 2004.