Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning (CCEHC)

The Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning (CCEHC) provides evidence-based national clinical leadership, advice and guidance to policy makers in health, social care and public health, and those commissioning and providing eye health services in England. Our recommendations represent the best evidence available, are independent of any professional or commercial interests, and are provided in the best interest of patients.

CCEHC is an independent advisory body, representing the leading clinical professions and charity organisations in the eye-care sector in England. We work with NHS England to improve eye health outcomes and access and promote high quality accessible eye health services that address local health inequalities. This is recognised as such through a Memorandum of Understanding with NHS England, outlines our shared purpose and agreed principles for engagement. 

MOU – CCEHC and NHS England PDF

Governance 

Chair: Mr Wojciech Karwatowski, Consultant Ophthalmologist at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Vice Chair: Ms Zoe Richmond MCOptom, Optometrist and Interim Clinical Director at the Local Optical Committee Central Support Unit (LOCSU)

Secretariat: The College of Optometrists and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists 

Member organisations: Members of the CCEHC are representatives of the body or sector which nominates them and are accountable to that body/sector. The Council consists of the following organisations/sector: 

  • Association of British Dispensing Opticians
  • Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
  • Association of Optometrists (AOP)
  • British and Irish Orthoptic Society
  • The College of Optometrists
  • Faculty of Public Health
  • Federation of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians (FODO)
  • Glaucoma UK
  • Local Optical Committee Support Unit (LOCSU)
  • Macular Society
  • Royal College of General Practitioners
  • Royal College of Nursing (Ophthalmic Section)
  • Royal National Institute of Blind People
  • The Royal College of Ophthalmologists

Contact

Primary contact: Neal Suchak, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Officer, The College of Optometrists – email: neal.suchak@college-optometrists.org

Secondary contact: Jo Dean, Executive Assistant to the President, Vice President, and Chief Executive, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists – email jo.dean@rcophth.ac.uk, T: 020 3770 5351

Our strategy sets out how we will draw on the expertise of our members to improve the quality and efficiency of eye care for adults and children in England, focussing on:

  • providing government, policy-makers, LEHNs and commissioners with prompt, informed and evidence-based recommendations 
  • developing models of care and guidance to support commissioners and providers in (re)designing local services to address changing needs

Strategy 2019 - 2021 (PDF)

Commissioning Guidance 

CCEHC Frameworks 

These frameworks have been developed in order to improve patient flows, and so ease capacity problems within the hospital eye service. They show how pathways of care within a service system can be organised, delivered and monitored, based on clinical risk stratification of a patient’s condition and the skills and competence of the health care practitioner.

Systems and Assurance Framework for Eye Health - SAFE 

SAFE provides the core constructs and technical tools to support high level, strategic planning, commissioning and provision of eye health and care services and deliver efficiencies and transformation at scale. The clinical areas currently covered by SAFE AMD, cataract and glaucoma:

 

NHS Long Term Plan – Priorities for Eye Care

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out the priorities for healthcare over the next ten years and how the NHS funding settlement will be used. 

Surveys

CCEHC conducted a survey on the commissioning and provision of low vision assessment services in England and made recommendations based on the results.

Latest news from CCEHC 

A new standard clinical specification for community minor and urgent eye care, which aims to assure, support and enhance access to minor and urgent eye care locally across England, has been published today.

The Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning has written to NHS England urging them to commission a School Eye Care Service for children with special needs.

The Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning (CCEHC) recognises variation in service provision and availability for children with vision deficit picked up through school vision screening in England. 1,2,3

Public Health England (PHE) has published their Atlas of variation in risk factors and healthcare for vision in England.

Mr Wojciech Karwatowski has been elected as the new chair of the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning (CCEHC) following a vote by the members of the Clinical Council.

CCEHC survey highlights need to review commissioning and provision of low vision services to deliver more accessible and integrated care for patients in England.