Patient safety is one of the most significant concerns for the NHS. This includes maximising the things that go right and minimising the things that go wrong for patients who are suffering from, or at risk of, ophthalmic diseases. The NOD provides information on services in two major treatment areas: cataract surgery and Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) treatment.
For patients NOD informs aspects of care such as:
- setting evidence based standards on what determines good care, where patients have received it
- risk factors of surgical treatment of cataracts, informing patient choice, shared decision making, consent information and training of surgeons
- highlighting health inequalities such as access to care and monitoring how this changes over time
- providing a national overview of the impact of interventions and empowering local comparison to drive change in your services
The two areas of care currently analyised by the NOD are: