24 November 2023

FODO member update - 24 November

This week:

• Autumn Statement
• Glaucoma charity runs road safety campaign
• WCO aims to improve eye care for children
• Reminder: PCSE will be offline
• England - e-GOS reminder
• Eye gel recall
• Other sector news
• Health policy updates

Autumn Statement

Highlights for members from this week's autumn statement include:

• Capital allowances - permanent full expensing. This week's announcement makes full expensing permanent by removing the expiry date of March‌‌‌ ‌‌2026. This means that companies can recover Corporation Tax against the cost of relevant capital expenditure. Learn more
• National Insurance contributions (NICs). Class 1 NICs (employee contributions) will be reduced from 12% to 10% from 6 January. Self-employed Class 2 NICs will be abolished and Class 4 NICs will be cut from 9% to 8% from April 2024. Read the Treasury factsheet
• Individual Saving Accounts (ISAs). Will be simplified to allow multiple subscriptions to ISAs of the same type every tax year from April‌‌‌ ‌‌2024.
• Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA). Individuals with an income of more than £150,000 that is taxed through PAYE will not be required to submit an ITSA return, unless they have another reason to do so. This is in addition to the increase of the threshold from £100,000 to £150,000, which took effect for the 2023/24 tax year.
• Income tax cash basis. The Government aims to simplify the income tax cash basis for the employed and partnerships, with the change taking effect from 6 April 2024. The cash basis will be set as the default method of calculating taxable profits, with an opt-out for businesses that want to use the accruals basis.
• Minimum wage. This will increase from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour for people aged 21 and over.

Glaucoma charity runs road safety campaign

Glaucoma UK encouraged people to keep their vision road-ready during a Road Safety Week campaign (19-25 November). The charity, which provides support for everyone living with glaucoma, urged people to have regular sight tests as this can help detect glaucoma before symptoms appear. To make an impact, the charity said it placed its campaign messaging on petrol nozzle advertisements at stations in cities where there is a poorer uptake of eye tests. Read more. 

WCO aims to improve eye care for children

The World Council of Optometry (WCO) launched new clinical resources to help deliver accessible, quality eye care to children across the globe. In a statement, WCO said it is "pleased to offer this resource to the public, which includes clinical information, assessment tools and references for clinicians to use to help children and their families in accessing the best eye care possible." Access the resources. 

Reminder: PCSE will be offline

PCSE is making improvements to its Disaster Recovery process, so reminds all contractors that its systems will be unavailable from: 

• 6pm on Friday, 24 November until 9am on Saturday, 25 November, and 
• 7am-2pm on Sunday, 26 November.  

England - e-GOS reminder

From 1 January 2024, all GOS forms must be submitted electronically through Primary Care Support England (PCSE) online or a practice management system's eGOS functionality. It will also no longer be possible to order paper GOS forms via PCSE Online from next Friday (1 December). 

For support and guidance, members can review the Ophthalmic Payments resources section on the PCSE website or contact PCSE or FODO. 

Eye gel recall

Some batches of carbomer gel distributed after August 2023 are being recalled because there is a potential risk of contamination with a bacteria called Burkholderia cenocepacia.

AACARB eye gel labelled with the distributor name Trion Pharma, AACOMER eye gel, with the distributor name Essential-Healthcare, and PUROPTICS eye gel, distributed by Biovantic Pharma, are the brands affected. Customers and patients should return any affected products. If you supply any of these products read the actions to take here. 

Other sector news

• Aneurin Bevan, Cardiff and Vale, and Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Boards want to hear your views about the future of cataract surgery in south-east Wales. Learn more and take part in a survey.
• A free training programme looking at how to manage difficult situations with compassion is open to all frontline patient-facing NHS colleagues. The programme will start on 5 December. Register here.

Health policy updates

NHS England says a new Federated Data Platform, which involves a £330m investment over seven years, will "join up key information currently held in separate NHS systems to tackle some of the big challenges the health service faces coming out the pandemic". It said this will also enable staff to access key information and provide more timely care, NHS England says. Read more.

Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in England are under significant financial pressure with a forecast combined deficit of £1.5bn, the HSJ reports. Some regions will have to prepare for 'nuclear options to balance the books', it adds, suggesting that some ICSs must resubmit plans to demonstrate how they will break even. Email [email protected] if you hear about any enhanced eye care services being put at risk because of shortsighted cuts to essential services.

McKinsey reports that global growth is forecast to slow from 3.5% in 2022 to 3% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024, with the UK forecast to grow at the slowest rate across major economies, at 1%. 

Richard Fuller MP asked Victoria Atkins, the secretary of state for health and social care, what steps her department is taking to reduce waiting times for ophthalmology patients following referral. Andrew Stephenson, minister of state at the DHSC, said the Government is taking action to tackle waiting lists for NHS ophthalmology services, "including the continued rollout of community diagnostic centres (CDCs)". Read more.

The Independent reports concerns that people are being put at risk of sight loss due to delays in care. It repeats previous warnings by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, College of Optometrists and FODO about the potential dangers that hold-ups in access to hospital eye care pose to patients. This latest article, which is based on a survey of AOP members, warns that far too many people are waiting more than 12 months for their hospital eye appointment, and like many prior calls to action by the eye care sector, asks for improvements to enhanced eye-care services across England.