As new regulations come into force today (October 20), Optometry Wales has issued guidance to optical practitioners outlining new requirements in order to qualify for Welsh GOS.
Patient signatures are now required on all NHS forms and forms without signatures will be returned by NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) to practices.
Practitioners must have completed the four mandatory Wales General Ophthalmic Services (WGOS) training hosted by Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) and be Eye Health Examination Wales (EHEW) accredited, before delivering services.
All staff assisting in the delivery of WGOS must complete mandatory training hosted by HEIW before seeing patients; all paper NHS forms must be submitted within three months and new clinical fees and voucher values have now come into effect.
WGOS1, 2 and 3 will come into effect from October 20 with only one current question surrounding smoking cessation and WGOS4 and WGOS5 will follow in due course.
The WGOS clinical manuals and full regulations are available on the Eye Care Wales website.