24 October 2025

FODO member update – 24 October

This week:

• Electronic eye implant restores sight in people with dry AMD
• NHS Confederation promotes benefits of CUES
• Chance visit to optician leads to permanent sight loss discovery
• LOCSU seeks leaders of the future
• At a glance
• Health policy news

Electronic eye implant restores sight in people with dry AMD

A tiny microchip inserted under the retina has had remarkable success in a global trial, with participants able to see numbers and letters through an eye that had previously lost its sight.
 
The 'Prima' device, which works with specialised glasses and a computer processor, is designed to help people with central vision loss due to dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Read more on Clarity. 

NHS Confederation promotes benefits of CUES

The NHS Confederation has published information about Community Urgent Eyecare Service (CUES) for optometrists interested in providing eye care services in the community, as part of its programme to encourage care closer to home.

CUES, led by Primary Eye Care Services, supported over 448,000 patients in 2024/25, with 99% receiving appointments within the appropriate timeframe. More than 80% of patients were fully managed by the service, reducing the need for onward referrals.

"Ophthalmology remains the largest outpatient speciality in England, with eye conditions also contributing significantly to A&E and GP attendances," the NHS Confederation said. "There is a need to address long waits, unnecessary hospital visits and the growing demand for urgent eye care, particularly in deprived communities." Read more. 

Chance visit to optician leads to permanent sight loss discovery

A mother who decided to take her seven-year-old son for an eye test after a casual conversation about why parents get their children's teeth checked regularly but not their eyes has discovered he has advanced sight loss in one eye, the BBC reports.

Mabon, from Gwynedd in Wales, had significant amblyopia, which had gone unnoticed for many years. Primary school vision screening has been mandatory in Wales since 2015. However, the Welsh Government told the BBC that children should also have regular sight tests and encouraged parents to take advantage of NHS-funded care at their local opticians. 

LOCSU seeks leaders of the future

Applications are now open for the LOCSU 2026 Leadership Skills for Optical Professionals course, designed to empower optometrists and dispensing opticians to become influential leaders in the optical sector. Read more.  

At a glance

• Last chance to book tickets for the Optometry Wales awards on 29 November.
• The College of Optometrists has published its 2025-30 strategy. Read more
• EssilorLuxottica has acquired the RetinAI brand, which collects and processes retinal images and biomarker datasets. Read more
• Boots Opticians launches podcast hosted by Myleene Klass, Clarity reports
• Specsavers to invest millions in Worcestershire lens manufacturing facility. Read more
• The charity Fight for Sight has unveiled a 'tactile' bronze statue of the Labour peer Lord David Blunkett, the first blind cabinet minister.

Health policy news

Uncertainty about 'advice and guidance'
 
The health minister Karin Smyth said this week that 2026/27 funding for 'advice and guidance' and its potential expansion to other primary care services was "currently under consideration" and that the government would confirm its decision later this year. The previous week, as reported in the FODO member update, she told Jim Shannon MP that the government had no plans to introduce the service for optometry.
 
Shockat Adam, MP and optometrist, had followed up on the original parliamentary answer. He highlighted a press notice on the success of advice and guidance services in speeding up GP care and asked a further question about the Department of Health's plans to allocate funding for similar services in other areas of primary care, including optometry. Read more.
 
NHS puts brakes on payment scheme reforms
 
The HSJ reports that radical changes proposed to the health service's internal financial payment schemes will not take place in 2026/27. It says that NHS England slides presented to local finance leaders show that several promised reforms would not take place next year, or only incrementally.
 
NHS England had previously indicated that it was considering phasing out 'block payments', fixed contracts that health policy experts have criticised as inefficient because they do not depend on the number of patients treated or the specific care provided. Read more.
 
Harjit Sandhu, FODO's chief executive, said: "News that block contracts will take much longer to unwind is a significant concern. NHS funding is tight, and without liberating funds locked into inefficient block contracts, it will be difficult to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan goals of shifting services from hospital to community and incentivising more preventive services to keep people well and out of hospital."
 
The Telegraph reports that, ahead of the autumn budget, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is refusing to fund the whole of Wes Streeting's £1.3 billion package for NHS England redundancies, after the abolition of the arms-length body.

CQC chief resigns
 
Sir Julian Hartley has resigned as chief executive of the Care Quality Commission, describing his role as incompatible with an independent inquiry into standards of maternity care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals during his tenure as NHS Trust chief executive.
 
Sir Julian joined the CQC after an independent review found that significant failings at the regulator were "hampering its ability to identify poor performance at hospitals, care homes and GP practices".