Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a common condition that is caused by damage to the macular region of the eye and affects anything in the centre of your vision which can become blurry or distorted. The exact cause of AMD is not known. Age appears to be the main risk factor and tends to affect people over the age of 65.

The AMD audit aims to provide real-world benchmarks that can enable patients, providers, and commissioners to compare clinical outcomes and key process at different sites to improve the quality of care. All output from the data analysis will be placed in the public domain. 

Information collected by the audit and how it is used

Information can be submitted to the audit by your hospital if you had AMD treatment in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Guernsey. We cannot identify any individual patient from this information. The information collected, as part of your patient record for AMD treatment, and used by NOD includes: 

• Visual acuity (your ability to discern the shapes and details of the things you see) 
• The change in visual acuity over time (adjusted for other variables which might affect this) 
• Treatment within 14 days of diagnosis, as recommended in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) AMD clinical guidelines

Anonymised data submitted to the NOD shows us if you have had AMD treatment on one or both eyes. The hospital responsible for your AMD treatment can identify an individual patient from this information as it is part of your care record. However, we do not see any information which identifies individual patients. Information submitted into the audit will be retained for the duration of the audit.