Research show benefits of MECS

Introducing intermediate-tier services (ITS) such as Minor Eye Conditions Services (MECS) can reduce the volume of hospital referrals by GPs and provide cheaper replacement services at lower costs, new College-funded research has found.

The research, published in the British Medical Journal Open, investigated the changes in volume of hospital ophthalmology patients and the related costs, before and after MECS were introduced in two London boroughs, Lambeth and Lewisham.

In Lambeth, first attendances to hospital ophthalmology referred by GPs were differentially reduced by 30.2 percent at the largest hospital department, compared with control area Southwark. Follow ups fell by 16.7 percent at a second hospital.