Eyecare Calculator – Now Downloadable
Minum Barreng developed and provided an online calculator (Calculator for the delivery and coordination of eye care services) to estimate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population eye care and workforce needs in 2011, and with publication of The Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision (2012).
This simple online device proved very popular, and we assume useful, and has been accessed consistently since publication up to 2025 when the calculator no longer met University of Melbourne security requirements for online access. Costs to reconstruct the calculator were prohibitive and, as we are still in 2026 receiving requests for access, we are now pleased to provide the calculator as a downloadable spreadsheet.
The NIEHS (National Indigenous Eye Health Survey) 2009 established the population prevalence of diabetes, refractive error, cataract and trachoma for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and these data allow the calculation of the number of people in a population who will require eye care each year. We modelled the amount of specialist eye care practitioner time required to serve a model community of 10,000 people and estimated the amount of support time and coordination required to deliver services to this community. Details backgrounding the calculator can be found in The Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision Full Report (p 60-61).
The calculator estimates for a given population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the annual requirements for delivery and coordination of eye care services. The calculations are first order estimates based on condition prevalence rates from the NIEHS (2009) and models of service delivery developed in The Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision (2012).
The report displays estimates of optometry, ophthalmology and hospital surgery services and the workforce to support delivery of these services.