The first of a series of a series of webinars about The Eye Care Digital Playbook was held on Monday 1st March. These webinars, held jointly between NHSX and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, will look at how the eye care playbook can improve patient experience and directly help clinicians support their patients.
Some might think that the digital revolution for eye care is somewhere in the future, but the Digital Playbook webinar showed this is all happening right now with existing tech and is in reach for everyone. I think everyone involved in providing ophthalmic care should take a look at the Playbook and think about whether your patients could benefit from digitally supported services.
Successes and challenges of implementing digitally supported care
Speakers from NHSX, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the national Eye Care Restoration & Transformation programme shared the successes and challenges of implementing digitally supported care, to restore and transform ophthalmic services in the pandemic.
Delayed and postponed appointments are exacerbating pre-existing capacity problems and risk of avoidable loss of vision. In response to the pandemic measures in place and to continue delivery of care, ophthalmologists have begun to find new ways to meet patient needs and restore services in a safe and sustainable way.
7 key points from the Eye Care Digital Playbook webinar
- The NHS England & Improvement Eye Care Recovery and Transformation programme is driving major changes rapidly for the benefit of patients with eye conditions.
- There are benefits of using digital technology to deliver better eye care pathways and there are many units already doing this.
- The Attend Anywhere programme at Moorfields is an example of digital innovation in action. It allows safe care for patients at home through video calls, and the attachment of iPads to slit lamps to live stream examinations over the 5G phone network.
- Historically there has been a variety of databases and platforms that are used in ophthalmic images. These contain very large images which are difficult to share. Gloucestershire Hospitals are testing a hybrid system that uses dicom and pacs to share between the hospital and community no matter what sort of image or device used.
- NHS mail has been great for sending images and to get quick decisions! Its inexpensive and optometrists really like the process too.
- The eye care digital playbook is intuitively designed and can be navigated via case studies, pathways and clinical scenarios.
- The experience of those using the eye care digital playbook has been positive.
The national Eye Care Restoration and Transformation
The national Eye Care Restoration and Transformation programme is bringing together national stakeholders and patient organisations to implement changes to deliver care differently using the wider workforce, primary care optometry, highly efficient care pathways and the widespread adoption of digitally supported care, developing joined-up whole-system services and personalised healthcare for all patients.
About NHSX Digital Playbooks
Last December, NHSX launched a library of digital playbooks on its website, as part of a programme of work supporting the commitment to reduce face-to-face outpatient appointments by up to a third over the next five years, as set out in The NHS Long Term Plan.
The digital playbooks are aimed at NHS staff and use case studies to show how different technology is being used across the UK to support clinicians and improve care. They cover the five highest-volume specialities: cardiology; respiratory; ophthalmology; musculoskeletal and dermatology. Further playbooks are planned this year, with exact specialties to be announced in the coming months.
Book onto the next webinar
The next in the series of the Eye Care Digital Playbook reviews how digital technology and connectivity can help deliver service improvement and transformation takes place on Wednesday 31 March, 6pm – 7.15pm.
To register and join click this link.