New guidance from the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) National Eye Care Recovery and Transformation Programme has encouraged NHS commissioners to utilise services within primary care.
The document encourages the optimisation of existing primary eye care contracts, as well as taking steps to increase capacity and activity.
NHSEI calls for risk stratification to enable the clinically-appropriate transfer of patients to primary care and a collaborative approach between primary and secondary care.
Urgent eye care services
MECS: Minor Eye Conditions Service CUES: COVID-19 Urgent Eyecare Service PEARS: Primary Eyecare Assessment and Referral Service.
A single point of access approach should be explored where appropriate, NHSEI highlighted.
The guidance calls for the development of existing urgent care services (such as MECS, CUES and PEARS) alongside the expansion of glaucoma and cataract pathways.
Optical bodies, including the AOP, welcomed the new approach in a statement.
“We welcome this guidance and its strong support for the continuation and expansion of extended primary eye care. These services are able to tackle outpatient waits, reduce the risk of avoidable blindness and address hospital capacity pressures which existed prior to COVID-19, and have increased significantly as a result of the pandemic,” the statement noted.
The guidance follows the launch of the Optometry First model for supporting sustainable eye care.
Primary Eyecare Services report details practical enablers required to bring eye care closer to home
New research finds 83% of CUES patients retained within primary care in Greater Manchester
AOP: Four in five A&E visits for eye problems could be managed in community optometry
Chris McDonald MP joins Department of Health and Social Care
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to join the discussion. Log in