30 November 2021

Infection prevention and control guidance – updates

On Friday, our update set out new official IPC guidance for health and care settings in the UK. We advised members to wait for College guidance for support on how to implement this within primary eye care settings.
 
The College has now updated its Amber phase Covid-19 guidance. Key points to note are:

1. IPC measures will help reduce the risks of all respiratory infections this winter. So, your local compliance with official guidance will help reduce the risk and impacts of Covid-19, seasonal influenza, and other airborne infections.

FODO therefore strongly supports College of Optometrists' advice to "maintain comprehensive [IPC] procedures, including wearing face masks and appropriate PPE to keep patients and practice staff safe".

2. Primary eye care remains an essential service. Official IPC and College guidance aim to ensure eye care services remain open and operate safely throughout the winter. The College position is that practices should:

• Remain open for routine services

• Prioritise patients on a needs and symptoms-led basis

• Continue to use remote care options where clinically appropriate.

The College also advises that practices should now:

• Screen patients for signs and symptoms of Covid-19 and other respiratory infections (including flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)) 

• Continue to support patients/customers to use face coverings in primary eye care settings until at least March/April 2022. As of today, the use of face coverings becomes mandatory in shops in England, making the use of face coverings consistent across the UK

• Maintain physical distancing of at least 1m. Where possible maintaining 2m

• During this period of uncertainty with the omicron variant, the College has also revised its IPC controls for Alger brush and microblepharoexfoliation procedures 

Much of this will be familiar to FODO members. The key difference is screening for a wider range of respiratory symptoms. For example, updated College guidance states that:

• "1.3: Optometrists should not be seeing patients in primary care who have symptoms of respiratory infection, including Covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) face to face."

While screening for Covid-19 symptoms is now routine, there are clear operational challenges involved in screening for flu and RSV, which can include a headache, runny nose, and other common signs as symptoms. We have therefore asked the College if it will produce triage criteria - for example, somebody with a runny nose and no other symptoms might benefit from primary eye care and it might not be in their best interests to be sent to a respiratory infection pathway where they might be at increased risk of contracting Covid-19.
 
The College has helpfully clarified that it has now published a new FAQ “How should I manage patients with respiratory symptoms?”*. The College said the new FAQ recognises that "Patients presenting with non-Covid-19 related respiratory symptoms should be managed appropriately when contacting the practice, recognising the need for a professional judgement to ensure the patient's eye care needs can be met, while ensuring practice staff are kept safe."   
 
We recommend members read the College's updated guidance and FAQs.

• Access the College's updated Amber phase guidance
• Access the College's Covid-19 FAQs

*You will find the new FAQ under the main FAQ titled "Amber phase FAQ". There is also a new FAQ on "I have been identified as a close contact of someone diagnosed with COVID-19, which may have been caused by the Omicron variant of concern. I have no symptoms and I'm fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Can I continue to work in my optical practice?"