Primary eye care: Standing by to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan

In all we do we will make the case for rebalancing NHS expenditure and correcting the underinvestment in NHS primary eye care services. Without sustainable funding for these services, people will continue to suffer from avoidable harms due to over reliance on inefficient hospital models of care. This will include appropriate funding for the NHS eye testing service, enhanced services and IT solutions so that it is possible for practices to meet local needs.  

With the right funding models, we will be able to empower the optometrists and dispensing opticians who are already a fundamental part of neighbourhoods and communities across England.  Primary eye care practices already have the infrastructure and clinicians with the core clinical skills to treat more patients outside hospital and prevent avoidable sight loss caused by delays in hospital care. By delivering more eye care services on the high street or in patients’ homes, we can meet patients’ eye care needs more rapidly and in a more personalised way and ensure that people go to hospital only when they absolutely need to. This will be better for patients and better for the NHS and taxpayers. 

As leading national bodies for eye care, our members:     

• believe in preserving and optimising sight and preventing avoidable sight loss for all  
• deliver all NHS primary eye care including the essential national sight-testing, eye examination and vision correction service 
• have the skills and capacity to treat more patients and help reduce hospital waiting lists, if more eye care services were funded in primary care 
• have the clinical teams and infrastructure in place in all communities to deliver the government's three shifts now for the benefit of patients and the wider NHS 
• are keen to help the NHS and government make best use of this available capacity to meet growing need in a sustainable way and end avoidable sight loss due to long waits for hospital care