News & Views

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on ‘Managing NHS backlogs & waiting times’, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has stressed the need for consistent national coordination and resourcing of proven eye care innovations alongside an upskilling of the workforce and implementation of integrated pathways, if long backlogs and waiting times for both diagnostic and surgical appointments are to be reduced.

The government has announced that over 50 new surgical hubs will open across England to help alleviate Covid backlogs and offer quicker patient access to vital procedures. The new hubs will focus mainly on providing high-volume low, complexity surgery, including ophthalmology.

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.

NHS England has recently published a suite of decision support tools. The tools cover varying conditions and include Making a decision about cataracts, Making a decision about open-angle glaucoma and Making a decision about wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), along with guidance on how to use them and evaluating the impact.

Letters have been sent recently to NHS organisations across England and the devolved administrations encouraging them to continue to look favourably on requests from doctors seeking their support to undertake national or regional work for the wider benefit of the public, and of health services.