Health services

Optometrists and other primary care workers have been told not to take appointment bookings from patients who may be at risk of coronavirus

Scottish practitioners have reported issues with the eOphthalmic webform service, which recently became mandatory following an initial roll out in 2015

“Many optical practices still rely on faxes to hospitals, or letters to overstretched GPs, to refer patients into secondary care”

MP Kate Hollern met with optometrist Haroon Ahmed who has completed his independent prescribing qualification

Plans to ease referral challenges in the wake of a veto on fax machines are set to be announced in January

Whether or not GOS claims were appropriate will be assessed during a six-month trial in a sample of Wessex, West Yorkshire and Harrogate practices

NHS England has agreed to accept photocopies of scarce GOS forms as an interim measure

For the fourth month in a row, Primary Care Support England has confirmed that some contractors will be affected by late GOS payments

Some GOS contractors will receive ad-hoc reimbursement to ensure that all payments are made by the end of March

LOCSU and the Optical Confederation have criticised Capita’s continuity planning after widespread payment delays were attributed to “adverse weather”