Blossom is appearing on the trees, sport watchers have enjoyed the finale of the Six Nations, and the Spring Budget has been delivered. We are, however, still awaiting another classic sign that winter is definitively over; the announcement of the GOS fee increase (or not) for England.
This is a subject of particular interest this year as the cost of living crisis continues to bite. As is well-known, the price of essential goods in the UK has been outpacing household incomes since late 2021. Generally ascribed to a confluence of diverse factors, including the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic; Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and Brexit, the crisis has stretched the nation’s finances on every scale.
Inflation is obviously key here, and the UK’s Consumer Price Index has so far only marginally receded from a peak of 11.1% in October 2022. So, many eyes in the optical industry are on the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) to see if it can better last year’s 2% increase in GOS by the Department for Health and Social Care. Scotland and Northern Ireland managed to gain a comparatively healthy 4.5% increase for the same period.
The need for sight tests to be properly funded is a very long running issue, to say the least, and the Rubicon may already have been crossed, in terms of a positive resolution, given the numbers of practices that have withdrawn from GOS in recent years. The irony is that NHS England’s Optometry First initiative, developed in conjunction with the optical bodies, and the general much-needed expansion of NHS primary eye care services into optical practices hinges on adequate funding. A GOS rise in the coming weeks that doesn’t leave practices behind with respect to sky-high inflation would be a necessary step to unwinding this contradiction.