FODO member update – 12 June
This week:
- Health Bill – Reassurances about GOS in England
- OFNC responds to government plans for electronic referral system
- GOC to consult on revised statement on the testing of sight
- College calls for action on AMD waiting times
- Putting the AI in eye care
- Scottish Optical Conference
- At a glance
- Health policy news
Health Bill – Reassurances about GOS in England
The OFNC has received written reassurance from the DHSC that nothing in the health bill currently before Parliament will change arrangements for GOS in England. The DHSC has written that:
“The Bill does not change the national framework within which Primary Ophthalmic Services are delivered. NHS sight testing services will continue to operate within a national regulatory and contractual framework, with contract terms set in regulations and fees set nationally through Directions. Contractors will continue to hold contracts with ICBs as they do now. The Bill will not affect patient eligibility for NHS sight tests. Patients will also continue to access services in the same way.”
ICBs have been holding GOS contracts, rather than NHS England, since 2023 (just as PCTs did before NHS England was established). The Bill now completes that transfer as NHS England will no longer exist once the Bill becomes law.
OFNC responds to government plans for electronic referral system
The Department of Health and Social Care announced this week that it planned to invest £20 million in an electronic referral service (ERS) for eye care and in access to the National Care Records Service (NCRS).
The OFNC published a statement highlighting concerns that the investment does not recognise the financial burden of implementation and that the plan is not fully costed. Dr Peter Hampson, the OFNC’s chair, said: “Much as we want this initiative to succeed, unless there is a clear strategy and appropriate funding to support the work done in primary eye care, this initiative will be doomed to fail.” Read more in Clarity.
This is a reminder that, to support the OFNC’s work, FODO members who provide GOS in England should complete this confidential survey by 22 June.
GOC to consult on revised statement on the testing of sight
We understand that the GOC’s council will be asked on 24 June to approve a public consultation on a proposed updated statement on the testing of sight, along with related changes to the delegation and supervision requirements in its Standards of Practice. The statement on the testing of sight was last updated in 2013.
Once the council papers are published, we will evaluate the plans on behalf of members. We’ll assess whether they align with what we asked for in our response to the GOC’s 2022 call for evidence on the Opticians Act.
FODO works to ensure:
- The integrity of the sight test is maintained and the eye health examination and refraction components are not separated
- Optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners retain responsibility for conducting sight tests and issuing prescriptions and can be supported in doing so safely and effectively by trained members of the multi-disciplinary team.
FODO members have always been clear that putting patients at the heart of eye care is key. Any revised statement should reflect contemporary safe and effective practice in the sector. It should also permit future innovations that would enhance service delivery and patient care, subject to the public protections outlined above.
College calls for action on AMD waiting times
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists has called on NHS providers of AMD treatment to reduce their waiting times so that all patients are seen within 14 days of referral.
The college said it was disappointing that the proportion of patients receiving their first treatment within two weeks of referral had fallen from around 40% to 30%. The results came from the latest National Ophthalmology Audit (NOD) AMD report, which reviews data on more than 26,000 patients who started treatment in the 2023/24 financial year. Read more.
GOC council papers are typically made available on its website about a week before meetings. We will update members in next week’s update.
A review in Optometry Times takes a close look at how recent advances in oculomics are expanding eye care’s role in the range of risk factors for systemic disease that are not visible to the human eye.
The article discusses how modern technologies can make better use of the fact that the retina is the only site in the living human body where invasive procedures are not needed to scan and quantify the microvasculature and central nervous system tissue.
Early bird tickets are available for the Scottish Optical Conference on 14-15 November, with preferential discounts for FODO members. Read more.
- Final preparations are under way for the Optometry Tomorrow conference, which takes place in Harrogate next week.
- Cardiff University will host the British Congress of Optometry and Vision Science conference on 14-15 September. Read more.
- BCLA has started to transform its membership scheme, creating four new categories for members. Read more in Clarity.
- A Newmedica ophthalmologist is using Cataract Awareness Month to challenge assumptions about care for patients with learning difficulties. Read more in Clarity.
- BiB Ophthalmic Instruments has reached a licensing deal with the US company BlephEx, a first-line treatment for blepharitis and dry eye, Optical Insider reports.
- Digital solutions company Ditar has agreed a €1.4 million round of funding to expand its Optisuite digital eyewear consultation platform. Read more.
- LOCSU is seeking to make optometry integral to frailty care, after a Public Accounts Committee report found overworked GPs could not prioritise care for this patient group.
- Practice owner and former AOP chairman Kevin Thompson has received the Peter Yeo Medal for his services to the profession. Read more.
- Stephen Kinnock, the minister for care, has responded to the RNIB’s petition, which received 48,000 signatures and calls on the government to ensure people with sight loss in England receive enough support. Read more.
Health secretary promises change of gear
FODO attended the NHSConfed Expo conference in Manchester this week, where there was a record turnout following the merger of NHS Confederation and NHS Providers to form The NHS Alliance.
James Murray, the new health secretary, told the conference that he would be sticking to the focus on elective care, Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) and access to GPs and dentists. “The 10 Year Plan remains,” he said. “Now that we have stabilised the system, my job is to work with you to put our feet to the floor on reform. What I am bringing to this role is not a change of course, but a change of gear.”
Responding to a question about how to make change when budgets were tight, Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said the NHS worked better under budgetary constraint. “The cost element of change is generally quite small and depends on tweaks. Change is more about leadership.”
On neighbourhood health services, he said: “There is massive agreement on the principle, and massive disagreement on who should provide the care.”