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Uncovering optometry’s valuable role within the NHS

The combination of an ageing population and technological advancements means that the optometry sector is experiencing its highest demand to date. Accounting for one of the four key pillars of primary care, optometry plays a not just a vital role but makes crucial financial efficiencies within the NHS.

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This article uncovers how Primary Eyecare Services, England’s leading not-for-profit provider of NHS-funded enhanced eye care services, is benefitting the wider NHS by alleviating GP and hospital pressures, reducing health inequalities and utilising the Making Every Contact Count initiative.

Primary Eyecare Services uses a collaborative approach to deliver primary and community eye care. This collaboration across optometry’s primary and community care is demonstrated through the delivery of 504 service pathways, working in partnership with 28 integrated care boards, 52 local optical committees and 2350 optometry practices.

Acting as a multi-field contribution to the NHS by providing urgent and emergency eye care in addition to supporting routine elective care, Primary Eyecare plays a core role in minimising the need for patients to seek eye care support via their GP or hospital, thus alleviating the pressure on both primary and secondary care systems.

The community urgent eye care service and its contribution to alleviating pressures

Primary Eyecare Services supports the delivery of urgent and emergency care through its Community Urgent Eye Care Service (CUES), which provides assessment, treatment and referral for sudden onset eye problems. CUES enables patient access in primary care where approximately 85% of cases can be managed to resolution. When referral into hospital services is indicated, the service delivers imaging and other diagnostic data to assist with the triage and clinic allocation processes.

Results from patient-reported outcome measures evidence that over 65% of patients would have seen their GP, gone to A&E or attended a walk-in centre if the CUES service wasn’t available. These results demonstrate how the service has reduced the burden on secondary care, whilst being more cost efficient.

Emphasising the positive impact of CUES, Manisha Kumar, Chief Medical Officer at NHS Greater Manchester, commented:
“CUES provides patients accessible urgent eye care in the community, meaning patients can see an eye care specialist right away and reduce pressure on GPs and hospitals. The service shows the difference collaborative working across primary and secondary care can make, allowing us to treat residents with timely, high-quality care in the community.”

Reducing Health Inequalities

Demonstrating Primary Eyecare Services’ contribution to the wider NHS landscape is its partnerships in delivering services with charity organisations such as SeeAbility and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). The mutual objective in each case has been to focus on making services more accessible and inclusive, aiming to mitigate health inequalities.
Working with SeeAbility, a charity for those living with learning disabilities, the Easy Eye Care pathway has been designed to make getting an NHS-funded, specially adapted eye test available in a community setting.

Commenting on the Easy Eye Care pathway, clinical lead, Tom Mackley, said:

“Easy Eye Care delivers the necessary adjustments to perform a successful sight test for someone with a learning disability or autism. A little more time, pre-appointment preparation, alternative testing techniques, and an easy-to-read outcome report can make the world of difference and help to address a fundamental health inequality: everyone should be able to have a sight test.”

More recently, Primary Eyecare Services launched a pilot with the RNIB charity, aiming to improve the lives of individuals being referred to hospital eye care services by providing early support from the third sector.

The collaboration means that patients can directly access RNIB’s range of support services in addition to other local charity services via introductions co-ordinated by the RNIB.

Commenting on the RNIB collaboration, Clinical Director, Wendy Craven said:

“The partnership between RNIB and Primary Eyecare Services signifies a shared commitment to addressing the challenges faced by individuals with sight loss and ensuring they receive the multi-faceted help they need.”

Making Every Contact Count

The NHS Making Every Contact Count (MECC) initiative aims to encourage practitioners working across every sector of healthcare to engage their patients in conversation about their overall health and wellbeing.

Primary Eyecare Services provide information resources going beyond just eye conditions, which optometrists can share with their patients.

Speaking about the MECC initiative, Professional Services Director, Rupesh Bagdai, commented:

“Making Every Contact Count enables clinicians to deliver targeted health information supporting their patients to live healthier lives.”

Embedding MECC in practice ensures that patients can discuss their wider health in their local optometry practice, where before they may have visited their GP or other healthcare professional for advice.

Primary Eyecare Services’ and optometry’s contribution to the NHS aids in improving experiences and clinical outcomes for patients, driving positive change and shaping a healthier future for everyone. Most significantly, these programmes reduce the burden on resources, enhance the quality of care and encourage a more sustainable NHS.

Clinically-led and excellence driven, Primary Eyecare Services is an established not-for-profit organisation managing NHS eye care contracts across England. To find out more and to get in touch, click here.

Megan Lock, Primary Eyecare Services.

Last Updated on 30 January 2024