Health services

“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”

Primary Care Support England has backtracked on a previous promise to process payments by the end of December

OT  finds out how the Aravind Eye Hospital in Tamil Nadu makes the most of limited resources to ensure that no patient is ever turned away