A secure electronic system to enable optometrists to receive additional funding for referrals has been created by software and service providers Accipiter and Ocuco.
According to Peter Price-Taylor, Accipiter's chief executive, this is the first such system for the industry as a result of optometry being excluded from the NHS network.
'What we've done is created a network for them in partnership with Ocuco,' he told Optician.
He said that Accipter provided the infrastructure for local optical committees to establish a trading company which contracted with the PCT in their area to provide referral management. Health professionals such as GPs and optometrists and school nurses would all send eye case referrals through a referral management centre, which determined whether the patient should attend the hospital or be dealt with in the community by a professional such as an optometrist with a special interest.
He revealed that to become an optometrist with a special interest, practitioners would become accredited by their PCT by demonstrating a certain level of equipment and competence within their core skills. As a result, they could be paid for work such as glaucoma referrals and referral refinement such as dry eye.
Price-Taylor explained that through the system 'optometrists get paid correctly for the work they do'. He said fees for referrals would vary with each PCT, but to see a glaucoma patient, optometrists would be paid between £21 and £40, depending on whether the appointment required pachymetry. For general referral refinement such as dry eye, they would receive £48.
Price-Taylor said that in the average area with a referral management centre, the PCT could expect to save at least £500,000 per year and the optometrists' revenue could amount to at least £500,000.
He added that the Essex referral management centre was handling around 1,500 referrals per month from all clinicians and the average referral refinement fee was £48.