Latvia plans changes to reduce children’s eye-care waits

Access to state-funded eye doctors for children varies widely across Latvia, with waits ranging from 18 days to 430 days at different clinics. LSM reports that experts see a greater role for optometrists in primary eye care as a long-term way to ease the queues.

On average, children wait 112 days for a state-funded ophthalmologist appointment in Riga and 102 days in the regions. But the differences between individual providers are much larger: one Riga clinic has a 430-day wait, while another can see patients in a month. In Rēzekne, waits range from 75 days to a year, while in Tukums they are 18 days.

The variation is partly because ophthalmologists can set minimum age limits for the children they see, or choose not to see children at all. Treating children requires special equipment. At North Kurzeme Regional Hospital, for example, a six-year-old can get an appointment in a month, while a two-year-old has to wait longer.

At the Children’s Clinical University Hospital, the wait for a first eye-doctor consultation is currently about 60 days. It is one of five places in Latvia where children can be prescribed state-funded glasses. Until July, the service was available only at the children’s hospital, despite plans to extend it to the regions having been discussed for several years.

The hospital supports developing a wider vision-care network so children who need specialist treatment can see an ophthalmologist. Its Eye Diseases Clinic head, Sandra Valeiņa, said she would like to see closer cooperation with optometrists, who provide primary vision care, identify sight problems and prescribe or provide appropriate treatment, glasses or contact lenses.

Optometrist services are not currently covered by the state. Optometrists are ready to join a unified network and take on some primary care for children, but Cabinet regulations limit the network’s full operation and funding, said Aiga Švede, head of the Latvian Association of Optometrists and Opticians. The first steps towards changes are planned for January 1.