Lay summary
New Zealand's total health and disability spending is about $18 billion a year, which is about 9.5% of the country's gross domestic product GDP). This is above the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average.
Despite that, the country's public health model for the delivery of eye care is no longer sustainable and is struggling to cope with the increasing demand. New Zealand does not have a national health strategic plan for public eye care and is one of the only few developed countries that does not have any form of financial support structure designed to support under-resourced older adults in accessing primary eye health services.
This research is designed to review the OECD countries' public eye health model, and we will apply recently released guides and tools from the World Health Organization (WHO) to form an inclusive and financially sustainable health delivery model for New Zealand.