IT issues cause some optometrists to be locked out of Northern Ireland referral platform

Optometry practices in Northern Ireland have been advised that email referrals can be used as a backup following technical issues with the electronic referral platform.

An announcement at the beginning of September by the Business Services Organisation (BSO) outlined issues with the Clinical Communication Gateway (CCG) eReferral system – an application that optometrists in Northern Ireland use to make referrals to secondary care.

The statement noted recent Microsoft Edge updates have altered the functionality of Internet Explorer mode – which is required for the existing version of CCG to work properly.

“As a result, some contractors may experience difficulties accessing or using CCG following installation of the latest Microsoft Edge updates,” the BSO highlighted.

“The issue is expected to have the greatest impact on independent dental and optometry practices, as maintaining compatibility may require the implementation of advanced browser configuration settings that are not routinely available in all practice environments,” the BSO added.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health confirmed that the department is aware of technical issues affecting referrals from primary care optometry practices to Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust ophthalmology services.

“As officials work with various stakeholders to resolve the issue, paper-based referrals are being utilised. To ensure referrals are received in a timely manner, referrals will be received into trusts via dedicated and secure HSC email. This email pathway will facilitate associated scans, images and field plots to assist electronic triage where necessary,” the spokesperson highlighted.

“Timely access to appropriate services and patient safety remains the Department’s priority and officials are working at pace to resolve the issue,” the spokesperson added.

Optometrist, Richard Owens, of Richard Owens Opticians in East Belfast, told OT that he has been locked out of the CCG referral platform since the beginning of September.

Owens shared that the backup process for making referrals is more time-consuming.

“You have to type out a full email with all the patient details. With CCG, you would just enter the Health and Social Care number and it would match all the patient details to your referral,” he said.

Owens shared that the CCG system enables optometrists to see when a referral has been received, but there is a lack of certainty about how the email referrals are being processed.

“With CCG, it confirmed that the referral had been received. You didn’t have any idea how long it was going to take, but at least you knew that it had been submitted to the correct pathway for your patient,” he said.

The optometrist and practice director told OT that he would like more information from the Department of Health about how the issue will be resolved.

“It’s just difficult because most optometrists are not IT experts, and we have a helpdesk, but it’s not always easy to get hold of people,” he said.

Optometrist, Sam Baird, told OT that his staff have intermittent access to the CCG platform at his practices in Lisburn, Dromore, Belfast, Glengormley and Dundonald.

“Some days we can’t access it and some days we can – it’s really bizarre. Sometimes you can spend half an hour trying to get logged on, and it’s not the best use of time,” he said.

He highlighted that practitioners are worried about referrals being lost or delayed.

“We need to know that this contingency plan is watertight,” Baird shared.

The optometrists noted that before the IT issues, the CCG had worked well for optometrists in Northern Ireland.

“When I talked with my colleagues in other nations, they were envious of this system. It allowed us to attach fundus, slit lamp digital images, OCT scans and fields results resulting in a more complete referral,” he shared.

“It’s just frustrating that we are on the cusp of a possible collapse,” he said.