While serious eye conditions remained prioritised, many patients were too fearful to attend essential clinic appointments. Statistics showed that there was a 79% reduction in ophthalmic appointments in the UK (the highest of any medical specialty) during the pandemic. It is estimated that more than three thousand people have lost vision due to delays in the identification and treatment of eye disease during the pandemic (2). The pandemic crisis will end, sooner or later but the real challenge remains: the episodes of avoidable sight loss that may have occurred due to backlog of services.