22 September 2022

Optometry Wales: Ministerial sign off for eye care reform in Wales

An ambitious programme for eye care reform has now received ministerial sign off in Wales and the process for substantial change within primary care optometry can now begin at pace. On Tuesday 20th September 2022 Health and Social Care Minister Elenud Morgan announced details of the reform that would take place over the next 18 months. The reform process will see significant cultural change within the profession and will see the profession delivering more clinical work in the primary care setting and greater involvement in local decision making at primary care cluster level.

Sarah Schumm, Chair of Optometry Wales commented "This is a fantastic opportunity to truly be part of the primary care community, to fully utilise the skills we have to be able to truly be part of the diagnosis, management and treatment of citizens in Wales. Some aspects of the reform can take place quickly and some aspects will take longer to embed but we will work with the profession, Health Education Improvement Wales, Shared Services Partnership and Welsh Government to ensure that this phased approach to implementation is as seamless for practices as possible. This is a new era of change for the profession and we are incredibly excited to help set the pace for change"

Full training and support will be arranged over the coming months as more details are shared about what will be required and what the financial package will look like starting with a webinar that will be delivered to the profession on Monday 26th September 2022. 

A link to the registration is https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kGR9GWARSpG2Savj8CogQg 

We will be continuing to offer individual sessions to help all practices across Wales understand how the landscape will be changing and how to manage that change effectively.

For further information please contact Sali Davis by emailing [email protected] or by phone 07865 138336.


Source: Optometry Wales press release