10 May 2024

FODO member update - 10 May

This week:

• High levels of satisfaction with primary eye care
• Ophthalmology in England sees 3.4 million individuals 
• LOCSU is hiring 
• GOC publishes guidance to support CPD reflective exercise 
• FODO responds to GOC consultation 
• At a glance
• Health policy news

High levels of satisfaction with primary eye care

The King's Fund think-tank has published Primary care services in a nutshell, noting optometrists are the 'front door' of the NHS. It reports that:

• 71% of patients were satisfied with their GP, compared to 93% being satisfied with their optometrist
• There are 10 primary eye care practices per 100,000 people in England
• Activity in primary care has returned to pre-pandemic levels, except for dentistry
• £17.2 billion per year is spent on primary care services - 9.5% of the DHSC budget, although the proportion spent on primary care is shrinking. Of this figure, less than 3% is spent on primary eye care.

Harjit Sandhu, managing director at FODO, said: "Our members deliver most primary eye care, and we are incredibly proud that patient satisfaction has remained so high. This achievement is a testament to our members' significant and sustained investment in the workforce and capital to ensure people do not suffer long waits for essential primary eye care services."

He added: "As we set out in Principles and priorities for primary eye care, we are committed to ending avoidable sight loss due to delays in accessing hospital eye care services. So, this year, we will launch a new public affairs initiative and call for IT connectivity between eye care services and make the case for expanding enhanced eye care to help meet growing needs in areas like glaucoma care."

FODO members who want to get more involved with our public affairs work should email [email protected].

Ophthalmology in England sees 3.4 million individuals

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities has published an updated Vision Profile, which includes ophthalmology outpatient data in England. It reports:

• 8.9 million recorded attendances to hospital for eye-related problems
• As many eye care patients require follow-up care, with 3.4 million people attending hospital outpatient appointments for vision-related problems
• Patients attending for cataract surgery (516,073), retinal detachment (12,270) and intravitreal injections (750,000) - significantly higher than pre-pandemic.

LOCSU is hiring

LOCSU is looking for:

• A senior advancement lead (clinical) - employed £55-£60k
• Advancement leads - consultancy agreement £369 day rate
• A training and development lead - £37-£42k

Learn more and apply.

GOC publishes guidance to support CPD reflective exercise 

All GOC registrants must complete a reflective exercise before the end of the 2022-24 CPD cycle (31 December 2024). The GOC has published a Reflective Exercise Guidance Template to support this process. This template mirrors the form that will appear on MyCPD from July. Please pass this on to all fellow GOC registrants.

FODO responds to GOC consultation

Thank you to all members who participated in our review of the GOC consultation: Revised Standards of Practice. Read our response.

At a glance

• King Charles III announced as RNIB's new patron. Matt Stringer, RNIB CEO, said: "We are delighted and honoured to announce His Majesty King Charles III as our new royal patron. It continues a long line of support for our organisation from the Royal Family - RNIB's first patron was Queen Victoria, who became royal patron in 1875."
• HEIW Optometry is offering sponsorship for places on Cardiff University's Low Vision (Modules OPT001 & OPT002) course starting September 2024.If you're interested, apply by 11:59pm on 23 May 2024.
• Free CPD event on 23 May, 7pm. PES is hosting a CPD event on post-cataract surgery services. The event is for all practitioners and practice staff providing enhanced eye care services commissioned via PES.
• Free CPD on 11 June, 6.30 pm. Ayad Al-Bermani, consultant ophthalmologist, Cardiff and Vale, will host a CPD event on uveitis - diagnosis and management.

Health policy news

The Welsh Parliament celebrated 25 years of devolution by remembering that one of the first cross-party initiatives was to develop the Wales eye care initiative. This transformation change helped optometrists manage more care closer to home and enabled broader WGOS reforms in 2023.

Jim Shannon MP asked the DHSC for an estimate of how many people have been diagnosed with glaucoma, broken down by age, in the last five years. Responding, Andrea Leadsom explained that "data on the total number of people diagnosed with glaucoma is not collected".

On 8 May, another Westminster Hall debate considered the impact of headlight glare on road safety. Read more.