Concerns aired in Commons

Concerns about the commissioning of enhanced eye care services have been raised in the House of Commons by the vice-chair of the All Party Group on Eye Health and Visual Impairment, Nicky Morgan MP.

Morgan praised the success of current glaucoma referral refinement schemes and claimed 'it makes sense to utilise optometric practices to deliver primary eye care, as they are the logical partners of hospital-based ophthalmology'.

While maintaining that the devolution of enhanced optometric services to GP-led consortia 'made sense', Morgan said that some services, such as managing red eye and minor eye problems, currently supported by some PCTs, may be better undertaken nationally and 'should be commissioned nationally on the same basis as the NHS sight test'.