19 March 2025

Help champion the role of optometrists in England

We all have the opportunity to ensure the 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS recognises the central role optometrists play in leading and delivering new models of care to improve patient outcomes.

Following the announcement by Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, of the scrapping of NHS England, we must ensure that it will not slow the progress of reform and the government’s plans to shift focus from hospitals to primary care. The College of Optometrists has responded to the abolishment of NHS England to call on the new administration to increase funding to further improve eye health services and urge that future resources are allocated effectively to ensure the most efficient and sustainable delivery of care.

Back in October 2024, the Westminster government launched a consultation on its 10 Year Health Plan to fix the NHS in England. The College used your views and ideas shared through a short questionnaire to inform our submission to the government

A final survey has been launched on the Change NHS platform until 5pm on Monday 14 April to hear your views and priorities for change on some of the emerging ideas from the engagement so far.

This is your last opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas! The platform will close after 14 April as the government will finalise the 10 Year Health Plan.

Get involved

We want better recognition for optometrists. Eye care commissioners should make better use of primary care optometrists’ skills to provide more care closer to home and help reduce hospital waiting times. You can help shape the future of NHS eye care in England by feeding in directly as a health professional, a member of the public or as a patient. Details on how to feed in and information to support you discussing eye care are below:

1. Feed in directly as a health professional, a member of the public or as a patient

If you would like to share your views and priorities for change directly with the government, you can do so by completing the survey on the Change NHS website.

2. Ensure you get involved in next steps

The government will also be bringing together some of the thousands of members of the public, health and care staff and experts who have fed into the plan at a Change NHS summit. We do not have the details around this summit yet, but you can register to keep up to date with what is happening next.

What you can do

You can support our work to champion the central role optometrists play in delivering safe and timely eye care to more patients closer to home, and help reduce the reliance on local GPs, cut NHS waiting times and enable more people to live independently in England.

In our manifesto for change, we outlined our three key priorities to end the eye care crisis in England. You can help amplify these messages by sharing them in your responses locally and nationally, in addition to your own experiences.

1. Enable optometrists to provide more care to patients closer to home

Health services must recognise and utilise the full skills of optometrists. They must establish optometrists as first contact practitioners for eye care, in addition to their vital sight testing and eye examination services.

2. Prioritise a better-connected NHS and unlock the potential of new technologies

Upgrading IT infrastructure and improving digital connectivity will lead to more effective communication between healthcare professionals. The adoption of digital image sharing standards will also ensure more efficient patient referrals and reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment.

3. Support the optometry workforce to develop specialised skills

Sustainable eye care workforce planning must be backed by investment in education and training to ensure we have the eye care capacity patients need, when and where they need it.

What we have done so far

In December 2024, The College of Optometrists urged the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise eye health, and to establish optometrists as the first port of call for anyone with an eye care issue.

In January 2025, we called on the government to ensure its reform plan for elective care was effectively and urgently implemented for the benefit of eye care patients and the wider NHS.

More recently, we have responded to the UK Government’s Spending Review 2025, urging them to prioritise funding for primary eye care services to help tackle the ophthalmology backlog.

Related further reading

This paper gives a review of the people who access domiciliary eye care in the UK based on a large cohort of electronic records.

Independent MP – and independent optometrist – Shockat Adam talks about his first six months in Parliament and how he is bringing eye health care to the national stage.

Jane Veys MCOptom on why planning is the cornerstone of success