A practice in Daventry has hosted a visit from an MP to discuss eye care in the community and how healthcare could be transformed to make better use of the optometry workforce.
Stuart Andrew, MP for Daventry and former shadow secretary for health and social care, visited Browetts Opticians last Friday (28 August) for a tour of the practice and to learn more about the eye care services provided.
Fatema Soonsara, optometrist, told OT: “I’m keen on having an MP in the practice because they can see first-hand what sort of services we can provide, how useful we can be, and how much money the Government can save and improve the NHS overall – because we all want a better NHS.”
Soonsara demonstrated the technology in the practice, discussing how use of optical coherence tomographer (OCT) has been helpful in refining the numbers of patients referred to the hospital.
Highlighting the costs of such technology, she shared that patients are required to pay for OCT and some cannot afford it, or do not wish to pay for the service – meaning these patients are referred into the hospital eye service.
Commenting on the practice visit, Andrew said: “I think what we’re seeing here is an excellent service that is being provided to local residents, but also one that is convenient and right on the High Street.”
Speaking to OT during the visit, Soonsara said: “Optometrists, I feel, have a really good skillset to be able to help in primary care and I feel that, apart from performing general NHS-funded sight tests, we’re underutilised.”
“We can help with other primary care problems which will then help cut down the NHS waiting lists,” she added.
Soonsara pointed to the value of enhanced eye care services, such as the minor eye conditions service (MECS) and community urgent eyecare service but emphasised that these are not available everywhere.
During the visit, the optometrist also raised the issues of funding in optometry.
Soonsara said: “I would really appreciate better funding for the NHS sight test, funding for extra tests like the OCT and enhanced optical services like MECS, glaucoma and pre- and post-cataracts.”
“I think that would not only give us better meaning in our in our jobs, but it would also provide better eye care for everyone and it would save money. It’s a win-win-win,” she said.
Reflecting on the conversations during the visit, Andrew said: “I think it’s really important that we explore every avenue to how we can ease pressure on our hospitals.”
“I’m thinking of my own father at the moment who I’m taking to-and-fro to the hospital. It would be much easier to get him in here than to go there,” he added.
Acknowledging that “we’ve got to explore these things,” he considered whether this requires a re-think regarding where patients are directed, meaning “cases that do need to be referred to the hospital actually get there, [which] saves the hospital time and the patient time.”
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