Scottish-style deal for England 'to cost £90m'

The cost of introducing a Scottish-style optometry contract to England 'could be £90m', a House of Commons health inquiry was told last week in Parliament.

Speaking at the Parliamentary meeting on February 9, AOP chairman Lynn Hansford said that in NHS terms this cost would be a 'drop in the ocean'.

Hansford attended the committee meeting alongside David Cartwright, president of the College of Optometrists and Boots professional services director, to help with an inquiry into NHS payments patients make for optical and other services (News, February 3).

'We would certainly be delighted if a very similar sort of system came to England,' Cartwright told the health select committee. 'And when you think in terms of longer-term savings there is definitely a case for it to come here.'

Due to be enforced in April this year, the NHS optometry contract entitles practitioners to significant fee increases, an £8,000 equipment grant and free eye checks for all patients by 2007.

During the meeting, also attended by representatives for GPs and dentistry, Cartwright asserted that sight test fees should increase from the current £18.39 to around £37 to reflect 'the real cost for providing that examination'.

'There is the cross-subsidy from the sale of spectacles and contact lenses which in effect is a tax on the spectacle wearer who is then paying for part of that examination.'

He said optometrists should be the 'GP for eye services' and 'remunerated at a realistic level' for providing additional services including glaucoma and diabetic monitoring as well as 'different levels of sight tests at varying costs'.

Hansford went on to address the need for a national service framework in England, 'much like the one in Wales', she said.
'Enhanced primary care in Wales provides an acute referral scheme where patients with eye problems can come to the optometrist. We also feel there should be a publicity campaign so that everybody understands the importance of vision,' she said.

Cartwright added: 'We are about to embark on negotiating the new GOS contract and we will propose that essential, additional and enhanced services within that will be properly funded.'

Other issues discussed included the savings the NHS can make if eye diseases are caught early; the need for a universal screening programme for children before the age of eight; the importance of patient choice on the high street for driving excellence; supermarket competition and domiciliary care.

The full transcript is available by searching at: www.publications.parliament.uk/

See Comment, page 14