College calls for urgent eye care services to be included in local NHS emergency care plans
The College of Optometrists calls for urgent eye care services to be included in the local NHS long-term emergency care plans in England.
“Today’s urgent and emergency care plan announcement from the NHS is an encouraging opportunity to ensure all Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) commission vital community minor and urgent eye care services across England. While we welcome the Westminster government's commitment to increase the number of patients receiving urgent care within primary care settings in England, it should be made clear that extending community urgent eye care services will help ease further pressures on A&E services by enabling urgent ocular cases to be seen promptly by primary care optometrists.
“These services fill a critical gap between routine sight tests and hospital emergency care, and universal commissioning would end the postcode lottery for access to urgent eye care and significantly reduce unnecessary GP and A&E visits. This would free up hospital clinicians to focus on more critical emergencies and complex cases.
“As evidenced in our recent policy report, up to 70% of eye-related A&E cases could be managed in primary eye care, providing a significant opportunity to shift care closer to home. The College urges all ICBs to roll out community minor and urgent care where these services don't already exist. We also call on the government to include the universal commissioning and funding of community minor and urgent eye care services across all regions in England in the upcoming 10-year health plan to help reduce hospital waiting times, A&E visits and GP appointments, and prevent avoidable sight loss.”
Dr Sarah Cant, Director of Policy and Strategy, The College of Optometrists