As the voice of the profession, we work closely with our members, partners across the eye care sector and policymakers to improve public policy so key challenges facing ophthalmology services across the UK are recognised and addressed.
Since our last roundup, we:
- Participated in an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment panel discussion on how the government should support eye care in the 10 Year Health Plan and beyond. Dilani Siriwardena, RCOphth Council member and incoming Vice President, outlined the importance of getting the IT basics right so we can deliver more integrated care with optometry, increasing ophthalmology training places to ensure we have sufficient workforce in place, and better allocating scare resources in line with patient need to prevent irreversible sight loss.
- Publicly expressed our disappointment at NHS England’s decision to scrap plans to introduce a payment limit for elective providers.
- Spoke to the Sunday Times about some of our concerns regarding the impact of rapidly growing independent sector provision of NHS cataract surgery in England. We were pleased that their subsequent investigation, which saw articles published on 20 April and 27 April, highlighted many of these issues – including the destabilising impact on NHS ophthalmology services delivering comprehensive care.
- Attended the College of Optometrists’ Artificial Intelligence in Eye Care Summit to connect with other stakeholders interested in the opportunities AI and machine learning present for improving patient care and to raise awareness of our AI directory. This was a particularly pertinent event given the government’s commitment to an analogue to digital shift in healthcare.
- Sought clarity on the Welsh Government’s response to a Ministerial Advisory Group report on improving NHS Wales performance and productivity that contained a recommendation to significantly increase the use of independent sector providers for NHS cataract surgery. The government confirmed that “it is expected that internal capacity and solutions to deliver improvements in productivity are maximised before considering the need for any independent sector solutions”.