A few extra few million dollars a year would dramatically cut the number of people needing cataract operations and save millions and millions of dollars helping people hurt by falls, a new Otago study has revealed.

The research team, from the University of Otago, research company Adapt Research and Tairawhiti District Health Board, undertook the modelling study to see what would happen if District Health Boards (DHBs) cleared cataract waiting lists by paying private providers to eliminate waiting lists for cataract surgery. They did this by modelling the costs and benefits of expedited surgery with detailed New Zealand injury and health system cost data, focused on falls.

The study, designed to attract wider media attention and bring pressure on the government and the DHBs to better prioritise their spending, showed expediting cataract surgery by 12 months as a falls prevention strategy was very cost-effective, with good health outcomes for comparatively little investment, said Dr Matt Boyd from Adapt Research in a nationwide media release. “Having cataracts makes someone twice as likely to fall. But currently patients in New Zealand can wait over 300 days for cataract surgery. Our findings provide modelling evidence that expediting cataract surgery is more cost-effective than many other health interventions, giving some of the best outcomes per dollar for limited healthcare funds.”

Study co-author, Gisborne ophthalmologist Dr Graham Wilson, a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Otago, said, “One third of people over 65 fall at least once a year and one in 20 will have a fracture or require hospitalisation.”