Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
The Department of Health and Social Care has today published its Elective recovery taskforce implementation plan. The plan covers England and focuses on ‘increasing the use of independent sector capacity across a broader range of specialties, helping to get NHS waiting times down and ensuring every patient can realise their right to choose where they receive their NHS care’.
Following representations by RCOphth and other organisations, the government has taken the welcome step of confirming that sight testing will be expanded to all special schools from 2024/25.
NHS England is consulting on proposals for the NHS Payment Scheme that will apply between 2023 and 2025, including plans to amend cataract payments. RCOphth’s response will support this change as a way to tackle the risk of “upcoding”, with the caveat that NHS England reviews the effectiveness of how the current system reflects the costs of cataract surgery and other ophthalmology services.
Following joint task and finish groups convened by The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and NHS England, guidance has been published on cataract commissioning, the referral and post-operative pathways, and training in independent sector providers.
Following the national procurement for medical retinal vascular medicines, NHS England has published an operational note on Commissioning recommendations. This followed discussions with various stakeholders, including members of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists.
RCOphth has published an analysis highlighting key trends in cataract surgery in England. This includes changes in the number of procedures performed in each region by NHS and independent sector providers.
The way that eye care services are designed and commissioned legally changed in England in July 2022.
Wales has had many problems with the delivery of effective eye care services for a long time, made a lot worse by the challenges of the Covid pandemic, exacerbating backlogs which are potentially putting patient care at risk. The Pyott Report provides recommendations to improve services.
To support the College’s work to address the challenges to long term sustainable patient care created by the growing role of independent sector providers, we are inviting members to join working groups on the cataract referral process and the postoperative pathway.
Ahead of Integrated Care Systems (ICS) becoming mandatory bodies in England in July 2022, Shveta Bansal, Clinical Director of Ophthalmology at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Clinical Lead for the Ophthalmology Collaborative in Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS, and Hayley Michell, Managing Consultant (NHS Transformation Unit) and Ophthalmology Programme Lead, share their experience of shifting towards integrating care.
