17 September 2021

FODO member update – 17 September

This week:

• Covid vaccine update
• National Eye Health Week
• New consultation on medical devices
• SEE summit on environmental sustainability - 4 October
• Royal College writes to Prime Minister
• Short deadline - PES is recruiting service leads
• NHS England reviews goals in its Long Term Plan
• Analogue phone lines switch off
• Other sector news

Covid vaccine update

The JCVI has published its advice on a Covid-19 booster vaccination. It advises that:
"Booster vaccines be offered to those more at risk from serious disease, and who were vaccinated during Phase 1 of the vaccine programme."
 
Those included are frontline health and social care workers, adults aged 50 or over, and other high-risk groups. 
 
The JCVI advises that the booster vaccine should be offered "no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course" and "in the same order during Phase 1". Staff working in care homes for older adults are in priority group 1, and all frontline health care workers are in priority group 2 (page 13).
 
At this stage, the NHS has started to prepare for rollout. For example, here's the plan for England. Once we learn more about how primary care teams can book the vaccination, we will update all members. 

National Eye Health Week

FODO members around the country will be taking part in National Eye Health Week, which runs from 20-26 September. This year's theme is the importance of good eye health and the need for regular eye tests for all. Follow us on Twitter during National Eye Health Week. 

New consultation on medical devices

The government has announced a public consultation on how medical devices are regulated across the UK, intending to have the future framework in place from July 2023.
 
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will lead the consultation. The MHRA will also review how to regulate software and artificial intelligence (AI) as a medical device.
 
The consultation will close on 25 November 2021. FODO will work with the OSA and other sector partners on this consultation. If you have any feedback or would like to participate, please email us at [email protected]. 

SEE summit on environmental sustainability - 4 October

This year, ABDO hosts a first summit on the environment and sustainability in optics, supported by the other optical bodies, including FODO.
 
The online event will include a keynote speech from Nick Bridge, the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change. Nick will discuss moving to net-zero carbon emissions and the optical sector's role in achieving this goal.
 
Learn more and book your place. 

Royal College writes to Prime Minister

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has joined the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA) in writing to the Prime Minister urging him to 'level up health'. The Alliance has called for a cross-government health inequalities strategy.
 
The College said: "In ophthalmology, we know that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and others experiencing socio-economic disadvantage experience worse eye health, which will seriously damage their quality of life if it leads to vision loss. A cross-government strategy to tackle health inequalities should help to address these disparities." 

Short deadline - PES is recruiting service leads

Primary Eyecare Services (PES) is recruiting service leads. This is an opportunity to support local eye care providers in developing and delivering services. The roles will be home-based, with the ability to travel as required for meetings.

• Learn more about the role
• To apply: Provide a CV and covering letter outlining how and why you are suited to the role, as well as how many days you can commit. Email this information to [email protected]
• The deadline for applications is 27 September.

NHS England reviews goals in its Long Term Plan

The HSJ reports that senior officials at NHS England believe they cannot meet goals set out in the Long Term Plan (LTP) because funding is insufficient. The news comes following the recent funding settlement, in which the NHS budget increases by £6.5bn in 2022/23 and £3.6bn in 2023/24. NHS England sources have informed the HSJ that they "now need to review budgets and service priorities to decide which could be met". 

Analogue phone lines switch off

Reminder to all members that the analogue phone network will be decommissioned entirely by the end of 2025. All phone lines will be transferred to a digital phone network, delivered through Voice over IP (VoIP) from that date. 

Members will wish to make plans to manage the switch and minimise service disruption. Find out more.   

Other sector news

Optometry Wales (OW) has announced the appointment of its new Chair, Sarah Schumm. Sarah has recently completed a year at Health Education Improvement Wales (HEIW) as a Clinical Fellow, where she has been researching and reporting to HEIW on the optometric workforce in Wales as part of contract reform. OW FODO member Andy Britton said: "FODO very much welcomes Sarah to the post. The experience and insights she brings from working within the NHS system in Wales will be invaluable."
 
The GOC has won a TIDE Bronze Award for diversity and inclusion.
 
Moorfields says it has made a breakthrough in artificial intelligence for dry AMD. Read more.
 
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is encouraging ophthalmologists to apply to chair its Clinical Leads Forum. Learn more.