NHS contracts for enhanced services will normally be agreed between the commissioners of the service (Primary Care Organisation, PBC cluster) and the providers of the service (almost invariably individual optometrists). The contract will usually be negotiated between the commissioners and the LOC, acting on behalf of optometrists. Sometimes hospital trusts will get involved in negotiations, but LOCs and AOCs should bear in mind that the hospitals are not the commissioners of the service, nor are enhanced services usually funded by the "hospital money".
A "standard" contract for NHS schemes has been produced by the AOP and can be viewed by clicking on the relevant pdf file on the bottom of the page. It is likely, however, that the commissioners will usually have a contract or service level agreement of their own, which they use for a variety of schemes (e.g. community physiotherapy, GP minor surgery, counselling services, etc). They might wish to adapt these to cover an item of enhanced service for eye care.
The AOP recommends the inclusion of an indemnity clause in the formulation of all contracts. A sample clause can be found at the end of the page.
The AOP also encourages practitioners to negotiate a fee for the service they provide which adequately covers the cost of providing the service. It has included in its Primary Care Toolkit a methodology for calculating fees, which practitioners will find useful. Please see the calculator document at the end of the page or click here for more information from the AOP's Primary Care Toolkit .
