06 December 2024

FODO member update - 6 December

This week:

• FODO company membership and insurance 2025
• FODO individual members
• Primary eye care responds to NHS 10 Year Health Plan
• OFNC response to the 10 Year Plan
• GOC consultation on business regulation
• New cancer eye treatment
• At a glance
• Policy news

FODO company membership and insurance 2025

All insured company members have now received a unit price for their 2025 insurance. It shows a reduction in the sum paid per FTE in 2025 due to lower insurance costs. If you have not already done so, please complete your annual declaration form as soon as possible so we can ensure that you have cover in place at renewal. If you have not received your yearly declaration, please email [email protected]. 

FODO individual members

As you know, insurance at FODO costs you what it costs us. We have now written to all individual members about the reduction in insurance costs, which means in 2025, you will pay £476 if you work full time, down from £510 in 2024. We will invoice you shortly for 2025 membership and insurance if you are an existing member.
 
Thank you also to all members who continue to recommend us. Please share this short guide and FAQs with anybody you recommend, as it will help ensure that only people who need insurance apply to join our scheme. Please note that the guide also explains why we will stop accepting individual applications on 20 December, with the application process opening again on 6 January.

Primary eye care responds to NHS 10 Year Health Plan

FODO, ABDO, The College of Optometrists, AOP and LOCSU have all responded to the government's consultation on the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England.
 
All responses support the government's three big shifts - hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention - and reiterate the ABDO, College and FODO position on 18 November.
 
The FODO policy team would like to thank all members who helped shape our response through direct engagement. Our response is backed by primary eye care providers that deliver most NHS care in England, and without whom change will not be possible.
 
In our response, we call on the government to apply its three big shifts to eye care and finally shift more care to primary eye care settings so we can end avoidable sight loss due to delays in the hospital eye service. We shared peer-reviewed and other evidence to make the case for change and called for fairer funding for primary eye care services, as current NHS funding does not meet costs. You can read our full response.
 
The College of Optometrists' response also shared peer-reviewed evidence to support the case for the NHS to invest more in primary eye care, highlighting that 78.7% of patients seen for glaucoma repeat measures, 63.9% of patients seen for glaucoma enhanced case finding and 73.5% of patients seen for CUES did not require referral to the hospital and were safely managed in primary care.
 
ABDO and LOCSU responses also added to the calls to shift care out of hospitals.
 
As we reported on 29 November, the AOP co-funded research with Roche and others to make an economic case to shift care out of hospitals. The economic model shows the NHS would make savings if it shifted care out of hospitals and into primary eye care. The AOP response also backs arguments made by all sector bodies about applying the three shifts to
to NHS eye care.

OFNC response to the 10 Year Plan

The OFNC has joined the BMA, BDA, Community Pharmacy England and the NCHA to submit a joint response to the NHS 10 Year Plan. The response sets out the impacts of a lack of NHS investment in primary care over the last 15 years. It urges the government to work closely with primary care to begin the long-term renewal of patient services. Read the full response.  

GOC consultation on business regulation

Thank you to members who gave initial feedback to our invitation on 25 October to take part in this GOC consultation. We are now drafting a response and will share it with all volunteers in early January, then finalise a response for the 22 January deadline.

New cancer eye treatment

NHS England has announced funding for a new cancer treatment for patients diagnosed with uveal melanoma following approval from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). More than 100 patients each year are expected to be eligible for Tebentafusp, which the UK-based company Immunocore researched and developed.

At a glance

• Patients rate Moorfields A&E as the best in the country in CQC survey. Read more 
• The latest data for ophthalmology in Wales shows 51.0% patient pathways judged as higher
• The GOC has published its UK Optical Education 2024 Report for GOC-approved qualifications, which analyses the education and training of optical students and trainees and provides a commentary on sector developments. 

Policy news

• The National Health Service (Ophthalmic Services and Optical Charges and Payments) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 were laid before parliament on 28 November and came into force on 19 December. The regulations make provision to extend the category of 'additional services' they cover to include sight-testing services in a 'special educational setting' (SES).
• This week, Keir Starmer announced the government's plan for change, setting out six goals and committed to a "relentless focus on getting things done". The plans include treating 92% of NHS patients within 18 weeks in England.
• Audit Scotland said that the Scottish Government (SG) has no clear plan to deliver [the] NHS vision, adding that the government needed "a delivery plan that clearly explains to the public how it will reform the NHS and address the pressures on services."   The BBC also reported this week that Scotland's finance secretary, Shona Robison, was under pressure to review NHS spending, with concerns that current ways of working were unsustainable. SG responded by announcing "record new investment to support health and social care", with £2.2bn more for primary care services, a 7.9% increase.
• In Wales, the government has committed to making complaints about the NHS easier. Read more.