18 November 2024

Primary eye care backs the government’s three key shifts in NHS care and calls for urgent implementation in Phase One of the 10 Year Plan

ABDO, The College of Optometrists and FODO strongly back the government's three big shifts for the NHS in England:   

• hospital to community
• analogue to digital
• sickness to prevention.

These go to the heart of what primary eye care is about and need to be implemented in the first phase of the NHS 10 Year Plan if pressures on hospital eye services are to be reduced and NHS capacity and funding is to be better aligned to meet growing patient need within this Parliament.   

As leading national bodies for eye care, our members:    

• believe in preserving and optimising sight, and preventing avoidable sight loss
• deliver the vast majority of NHS primary eye care including the all-important national sight-testing, eye examination and vision correction service
• have the skills and capacity to treat more patients and help reduce hospital waiting lists, if more eye care services were funded in primary care
• have the clinical teams and infrastructure in place in all communities to deliver the government's three shifts now for the benefit of patients and the wider NHS
• are keen to help the NHS and government find capacity to meet growing need and end avoidable sight loss due to long waits for hospital care.

To do this, we are working together to:    

• Maintain and develop essential sight testing services to keep pace with innovation and enhance the nation's eye health and contribute to economic growth by preventing eye disease through early identification and intervention.

• Provide NHS England and ICBs with solutions to end the postcode lottery caused by the patchwork commissioning of enhanced primary eye care services in England. The most effective and efficient eye care solution for the NHS must be national coverage of enhanced community eye care for all, delivered to national specifications. As a minimum, optimising both the use of diagnostic tests (including repeat measures and OCT) and urgent eye care services in community optical practices will reduce hospital visits.

• Help end avoidable sight loss owing to delays in hospital care. There is an urgent need for more glaucoma patients to be reviewed and managed within primary eye care, closer to where patients live, to free up repeat patient capacity in hospitals and help prevent sight loss.

• Optimise service delivery based on population needs and established evidence-based pathways of care. We will work with the NHS and policymakers to identify which services can best be offered by all eye care providers and which are best delivered by optometrists and dispensing opticians with appropriate qualifications in local networks of optical practices.

• Bring together subject matter experts and providers to help the NHS deliver the shift from analogue to digital. We will work with the NHS and optical suppliers to adopt digital standards that optimise the use of existing advanced diagnostics and capacity in primary care optical practices and end the current postcode lottery of digital connectivity. This will allow the NHS to deliver additional outpatient appointments closer to home without the need for major new NHS capital investment, ensuring scarce NHS resources go directly into frontline services for patients.

Notes for editors   

About us   

ABDO - The Association of British Dispensing Opticians is the professional body for dispensing opticians, the second largest regulated eye care workforce. ABDO is the sector lead on evidence-based guidelines and professional development for dispensing opticians. Contact [email protected]     

The College of Optometrists is the professional body for optometry. It is the sector lead on evidence-based guidance and champions the profession, defines best clinical practice, and enables optometrists to develop through high-quality training and qualifications. The College also invests in research and education and actively educates and advises the public. Contact [email protected]    

FODO is the leading national association for eye care providers working in primary and community care settings. Each year its members provide more than 80% of all NHS primary eye care. Its members include the full range of large and small employers who are the main workforce and infrastructure investors in NHS primary eye care.  Contact [email protected]      

The memberships across our organisations hold the key to delivering the government's aims for the NHS in eye care and delivering world-class primary eye care services for all within this Parliament.