Stroke is one of Australia's leading causes of death and disability, with over 70% of survivors experiencing vision impairment. Vision impairment typically involves deficits of central or peripheral vision, eye movement disorders and defects of visual perception, which typically lead to double vision, blurred vision, reading difficulties and/or an inability to recognise people or objects.

The primary focus of stroke rehabilitation generally involves mobilising patients and improving their communication, where relevant, with multi-disciplinary support from physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology. However, in Australia, there is a lack of awareness of the role of orthoptists in the care of stroke patients, despite internationally orthoptists being involved in stroke care. Indeed, the Australian national guidelines for the clinical management of stroke omit the role of orthoptists in the care of patients who experience vision impairment following a stroke and much of the acute care and vision rehabilitation is undertaken by allied health professionals working outside of the eyecare industry.

With stroke survivors often experiencing vision difficulties, it is important that patients are screened for visual difficulties and receive vision rehabilitation to optimise patient outcomes. As such an understanding of the current role of the orthoptist in stroke care is important. This study aims to investigate the role and practices of orthoptists in post-stroke care, their participation in multidisciplinary teams, referral pathways, and barriers to accessing their services. The findings of this study will be presented.