21 November 2025

FODO member update – 21 November

This week:

• NHS delays cut to cataract tariff
• Safeguarding questionnaires
• Flu vaccines
• College welcomes new registrants
• Partnership to develop next-level digital referrals system
• HR webinar - managing the disciplinary process
• Sticky tape's end is in sight for visually impaired
• At a glance
• Health policy news

NHS delays cut to cataract tariff

As we reported in August, NHS England had consulted on cutting all cataract tariffs mid-year. The NHS has now confirmed that "having considered" feedback, it would not cut tariffs during the financial year. The original consultation also proposed using 'savings' from the tariff cut to increase all other ophthalmology tariffs.

NHS England has now launched a new NHS payment consultation for 2026/27, proposing cutting cataract tariffs by 20% and removing the differential payment for complex surgery. It will also focus ophthalmology tariff uplifts on "more complex activity." For example, proposals include a 5% rise for "minor elective procedures" and other procedures, including non-elective activity, increasing "around 19%."

FODO will work with sector partners and submit a response to the consultation, which closes on 16 December. If you would like to get involved, please email [email protected] by 9 December. 

Safeguarding questionnaires

We are aware that some practices have received detailed ICB safeguarding questionnaires designed for different care settings. Please contact your LOC if you receive this survey. It will then notify LOCSU. FODO is working with LOCSU and other sector partners to ensure ICBs understand QiO and how additional surveys designed for GP and other care settings do not always read across to primary eye care. 

Flu vaccines

This flu season, the UK Health Security Agency recommends vaccinations for several groups, including frontline health and social care workers from 1 October. Read more. 

College welcomes new registrants

The College of Optometrists has welcomed hundreds of registrants, as well as graduates in IP and other higher qualifications. Dr Gillian Ruddock, the college's president, congratulated the graduates and welcomed them to "a dynamic profession at the forefront of technological advancement and clinical development". Read more in Clarity. 

Partnership to develop next-level digital referrals system

Aston Business School and the independent eye hospital Eye-Docs Limited have announced they will develop a new ophthalmology digital referral system to improve communication between primary and secondary care and to improve patient access to specialist eye care. Read more in Clarity. 

HR webinar - managing the disciplinary process

WorkNest, which provides FODO members with HR support, is holding a free 60-minute webinar on how to manage a disciplinary process. The event will take place at 2pm on 9 December. Register here. 

Sticky tape's end is in sight for visually impaired

A consultant ophthalmic surgeon in Lincolnshire has developed and patented a new type of sticky tape with a black inner core that enables people with visual impairments to find the end in seconds.

Dr Rajan Bhojwani's product, See The Tape, was tested by Keith Binks, chair of The Partially Sighted Society. The invention won investment from businessman Steven Bartlett, whom Dr Bhojwani impressed on Dragon's Den in October and is now being launched globally. Read the BBC article. 

At a glance

• The Swiss 'read on' glasses brand has won a German Design Award for its latest reading glasses, which come flat-packed with interchangeable pre-cut lenses spanning seven dioptre strengths. Read more
• Optometry Wales has announced that BBC Wales news presenter Lucy Owen will present its upcoming awards at a ceremony in Cardiff on 29 November.
• ECOO gathered in Italy for its latest assembly and seasonal meetings. Read more
• The RNIB and the Scottish Book Trust have launched an accessible audio edition for Book Week Scotland, aimed at blind and partially sighted readers.
• BIOS invites employers of orthoptists to share their views on supporting a new Level 6 apprenticeship pathway run by the University of Sheffield.
• The Academy for Healthcare Science has announced that the Ophthalmic Imaging Association has joined its Professional Bodies Council. Read more
• GOC-approved CPD courses available on the EssilorLuxottica site. Learn more.

Health policy news

Failure of elective targets 'putting patients at risk'

The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found that NHS England has failed to meet its elective care targets by significant margins, warning that too many people are still waiting too long for treatment.

The health service faces "persistent backlogs" that present a risk to patients, with ophthalmology among the hardest-hit specialities.

The PAC report criticised the lack of a clear, funded plan to tackle waiting lists, particularly for diagnostic tests. It stated that the total elective care backlog stood at 7.4 million clinical pathways, about 220,000 fewer than in July 2024 when Labour gained power.

The latest NHS England figures show that in September, 22.5% of patients were on a waiting list for more than six weeks for a diagnostic test, when the target by March 2025 was to get this to 5%.

Harjit Sandhu, FODO Group chief executive, said that more rapid progress could have been made if primary eye care and audiology providers had been more widely used to help reduce long waits and take pressure off hospitals.

He said: "Members who read the PAC report will find little to surprise them, and much that was predictable. While diagnostic hubs have helped improve access to diagnostic tests, there is a long way to go. It was always clear that hubs and other rushed policy initiatives would never be the panacea. It is now time to invest more in things we know will work and work safely, and from which patients will benefit now.

"Primary eye care and audiology already have the infrastructure, workforce and capital in place to help shift millions of outpatient and diagnostic appointments from hospital to community. Following the evidence is what will help cut ophthalmology and ENT waiting lists, and tackle diagnostic waiting lists."

Dr Hugh Alderwick, director of research and policy at the Health Foundation, responded to the report, warning that the government would struggle to meet its 18-week waiting time target, and that its focus on hospitals' waiting lists would delay investing in primary care. He also questioned the government's top-down restructuring of the NHS.

David Hewlett, director of policy and strategy at FODO, said: "Whether or not Hugh is right about some of the structural change,  for example, not everyone will regret the passing of NHS England, he is absolutely right about the need to invest in primary care if the ambitious waiting lists goals are to be met.

"As history has shown, throwing money at waiting list issues only works for a time. The solution, as Lord Darzi identified, is to invest in primary care and care closer to home, and that choice is firmly in the government's hands. Earmarking a small proportion of ICB funding each year for primary care investment (in its widest sense), and which can be carried across year-ends, would start to make that happen. Not doing so now will make the recent waiting times progress very hard to sustain in the longer term."

The PAC recommended urgent action to expand capacity, improve workforce planning and accelerate the adoption of community-based care and virtual clinics. Read the entire report.
 
Calls for private sector funding and involvement to deliver NHS goals

The IHPN has said that private sector funding and involvement will be essential if the government is to deliver its 10 Year Health Plan and drive down waiting lists. Read more.