21 June 2024

FODO member update - 21 June

This week:

• Scotland supervisor survey
• Technical changes to eGOS in England
• Guardian reports on a 'boom in cataract surgery'
• At a glance
• Policy updates

Scotland supervisor survey

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is preparing to launch a new five-year integrated MCOptom (IP) programme at Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Highlands and Islands.
 
To help shape new arrangements, NES is keen to hear existing practice-based supervisors' views via a 10-question online questionnaire. Could FODO Scotland members please encourage all existing and potential supervisors to participate to ensure the inclusion of everyone's views? The deadline for responses is 11 August 2024. Take part. 

Technical changes to eGOS in England

PCSE has announced it will implement changes to align with the latest Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. This means Capita will only support TLS 1.2 from 6 September. Please ensure your IT leads read this message, which includes recommended actions. 

Guardian reports on a 'boom in cataract surgery'

The Guardian reports that a boom in cataract surgery has resulted in independent sector providers (ISPs) providing 60% of NHS cataract surgery in England.
 
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists said this ISP capacity had helped reduce waiting times after Covid lockdowns, which was a positive contribution. However, the College president, Professor Ben Burton, who works at the NHS James Paget University Hospital and Norwich Spire Hospital, told the Guardian he felt that while ISPs had delivered benefits, they had "continued to expand to a level where there's less and less benefit and more and more cost". 
 
The RNIB told the Guardian that it is concerned that these new models of care might adversely impact NHS provision and people in less affluent areas might not benefit in the same way.
 
The Independent Provider Network told the Guardian that NHS-funded ISPs were helping reduce NHS ophthalmology waiting lists in more than just cataract surgery.

Read more. 

At a glance

• The GOC has approved Developing autonomy in student optical professionals, the fifth output of the Sector Partnership for Optical Knowledge and Education (SPOKE). Read more.
• Specsavers pilot highlights ongoing issues for homeless people accessing eye care services. Read more.
• College publishes a six-month countdown to end of CPD cycle.

Policy updates

Since our last manifesto roundup, the SNP has published its manifesto. Reform has called its pre-election document a contract.

• The SNP has said it would push the UK government to invest an additional £16 billion per year in the NHS, which would see an additional £1.6 billion a year invested in NHS Scotland. It also said it would call for a Bill "to keep the NHS in public hands".

• Reform said it would reduce many taxes, write off student fees for doctors and nurses over 10 years if they remain within the NHS, and provide NHS patients with a voucher to allow them more control over their care. The IFS said the "package as a whole is problematic."

The Health Foundation has modelled scenarios to estimate how much funding the NHS needs over the next decade. It concludes that funding will likely have to increase by 3.8% per year. The rise would mean health inflation will probably exceed general inflation and economic growth, so the next government must make difficult decisions about taxation and access to public services. The Nuffield Trust's analysis of how much the major parties have committed to spend on the NHS shows that funding projections are far below 3.8%. Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, shadow health secretary, has said that, if elected, a Labour government would invest more in primary care.
 
In non-election news, Stuart McMillan MSP asked the Scottish government which emerging medical technologies it considers will have the most impact on glaucoma treatment over the next five years. Jenni Minto said the government was investing £250,000 in a home glaucoma monitoring initiative, including home tonometry and assessment of visual function, and potentially even optic disc imaging.
 
Mr McMillan also asked what assessment the government has made of the current deployment of combined cataract and glaucoma procedures. Jenni Minto said they'd consider the combined treatment model through the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway.