In Focus: The future of GOS

During nearly a year of practising in a pandemic, debate around remuneration of general ophthalmic services (GOS) in England has been constant.

Instead of being a topic that cropped up annually around fee negotiation time, GOS has become a subject of never-ending debate between the Optometric Fees Negotiation Committee (OFNC) and NHS England.

In April 2020, GOS fees in England were frozen by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for a fifth successive year despite the OFNC bidding for an increase of 2.4%, which it said was in line with wider investment in NHS care.

The DHSC cited the lack of evidence about any impact on NHS sight test numbers or optical businesses as its reasoning for freezing the fee again.