14 February 2025

FODO member update – 14 February

This week:

• NHS celebrates 75 years of cataract surgery
• Optometry Contract Negotiations 2024-25
• Mandate published
• NHS Standard Contract and Payment Scheme consultations
• PCSE updates
• Jeet Saimbi announces retirement
• At a glance
• Policy updates

NHS celebrates 75 years of cataract surgery

The first cataract operation happened at St Thomas' Hospital in London in 1950. Since then, the BBC reports that nearly a billion operations have taken place globally.
 
Sir Harold Ridley was the pioneer behind cataract operations. He made his breakthrough after noticing that a Spitfire pilot with splinters of acrylic in his eye did not experience an autoimmune response to the plastic. The BBC explains that doctors considered the cataract operation radical then and was "resisted by much of the medical profession". Today, cataract surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the UK. 

Optometry Contract Negotiations 2024-25

Jeremy Miles MS, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has announced that NHS primary eye care in Wales will receive an additional £3.9m for 2024-25. Optometry Wales, which worked with Welsh Government,to agree uplifts has welcomed the news.  

The WGOS sight test fee will increase to £44, backdated to 21 October 2024 and enhanced service fees will also increase. 

• Read the full update on the WGOS sight test fee, domiciliary fees and training support  
• Read the full update on WGOS enhanced fees  

Mandate published

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published the NHS mandate for England. It sets out the government's priorities for 2025: cut waiting lists, improve access to primary care, and improve urgent and emergency care. Read more in our policy updates below. 

NHS Standard Contract and Payment Scheme consultations

Last week, we advised members about NHS England running annual consultations on the Standard Contract (closes 25 February) and NHS payment scheme (closes 28 February).
 
FODO has now reviewed both consultations alongside the NHS mandate objectives (see below). We have some concerns about proposals set out in the payment scheme consultation and how these would have to be translated into the NHS Standard Contract and ultimately impact on patient care. For example, it appears at this stage certain payment reform proposals are likely to make it difficult to ensure compliance with the NHS Constitution. It also makes it more likely that indicative activity plans (often not based on robust planning assumptions) could be used in ways that puts services at risk.  
 
FODO will be responding to the consultation on behalf of members, if you would like to take part please email [email protected]. 

PCSE updates

PCSE is planning an internal IT upgrade from 7-8 March. The upgrade focuses on its internal systems, with no functional changes for PCSE Online users. However, please ensure your IT leads review the latest PCSE update, which includes service downtime and explains the error message PCSE Online users will get during this period.
 
The same PCSE update also shares how to manage GOS claims on 8 March. 

Jeet Saimbi announces retirement

Jeet Saimbi, professional services and training director at Scrivens will retire on 28 February after serving more than 50 years at the company. Jeet started as a contact lens optician and rose to take on various leadership roles, joining the Board of Directors in 1999.
 
Alan Tinger at FODO said: "Scrivens has been part of the FODO member community for many decades, and Jeet has been integral to that. It has been a great pleasure working with Jeet, who has always been available to assist FODO with her considerable experience and optical knowledge. Few will ever celebrate a 50th anniversary working for one business. It bears testimony Jeet's significant contribution to Scrivens and the sector, and all at FODO wish her a long and well-earned retirement."   

At a glance

• Northern Ireland GOS statistics show a steady increase in patients accessing primary eye care services as of the quarter end, December 2024.
• Funding from Health and Care Research Wales will establish a new centre for vision research in Cardiff.
• The Independent reports on a small proportion of people taking weight loss and diabetic drugs experiencing sight loss. However, it clarifies that no one has established a causal link.
• Eye news looks back at the research on Pegcetacoplan for dry AMD.
• Bill was introduced in Parliament to tackle barriers faced by voters with sight loss. Read more.
• Treatment pause leads to a high rate of relapse in children with a specific autoimmune eye inflammation. Read more.
• Asda Opticians joins Optometry Scotland. Read more.

Policy updates

Mandate published
 
The DHSC has published the NHS mandate for England, setting out the government's priorities for 2025: cut waiting lists, improve access to primary care, and improve urgent and emergency care.
 
This year's mandate sets challenging targets, given the squeeze on finances and the need to tackle waiting lists and drive significant reforms. The mandate also returns to language seen in the previous austerity era, such as "the NHS must learn to live within its means". It follows with a firm message that the public "remain sceptical about whether the money will be well spent. It is our responsibility to make sure that it is [...] The culture of routine overspending without consequences is over."
 
The government confirms it plans to publish its 10 Year Health Plan in the spring and "deliver the three big shifts our NHS needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention". The mandate notes that these three shifts will help to:

• Cut waiting times for care
• Reduce the amount of time spent in ill health
• Tackle health inequalities
• Reduce the lives lost to the biggest killers - cancer, cardiovascular disease and suicide
• Make the NHS sustainable in the long term.

In the mandate, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting also states the 10 Year Health plan will "deliver the biggest reimagining of the NHS since its birth".
 
The five mandate objectives are:

• Reform to cut waiting times. This top priority confirms that "patients should be empowered and given more choice and control, and their experience of planned NHS care should be as smooth, supportive and convenient as possible". It adds this should include "choice and control over where they receive treatment, including from the independent sector".
• Reform to improve primary care access. It acknowledges primary care services are the front door to the NHS and commits to improving access. The section does not explicitly mention primary eye care services, but Labour had already made a clear commitment to do more in primary eye care.
• Reform to improve urgent and emergency care. This reform will tackle issues in A&E and urgent care services, including NHS England working with DHSC to develop a new urgent and emergency care strategy.
• Reform to the operating model. It makes clear that further changes at NHS England are inevitable. It sets out how "the top-down centralised model of control will, over time, need to give way to a more devolved system where ICBs and trusts have greater freedom and flexibility and where patients have more choice and control". It calls on NHS England to update the NHS Oversight and Assessment Framework and review incentives and controls generally.
• Reform to drive efficiency and productivity. It focuses on the need to deliver financial balance and "focus on ensuring that the right spending decisions are made to deliver the services patients require". It also requires NHS England to work closely with DHSC "to monitor the delivery of spending plans and expected outcomes against jointly agreed metrics, across both revenue and capital funding, including with the aim of delivering a 2% productivity improvement across the NHS". 

Other policy news

• NHS England reports that waiting lists fell in December for the fourth consecutive month, with the backlog reducing from 7.48 million to 7.46 million. Wes Streeting said: "Through the Prime Minister's Plan for Change, the government has already cut NHS waiting lists by almost 160,000 since July, through a combination of investment and reform."
• The government appointed Ashley Dalton as a health minister following Andrew Gwynne's sacking. Read more.