Busby writes

Here we publish an extract from DoH ophthalmic services representative Derek Busby to the profession on November 8:

'... the sooner we can move to an arrangement that recognises business reality and allows PCTs to contract directly with dispensing optician and lay practice owners the better. Primary legislation is not available to Departments every year (the last Health Act was in 2003) and we would risk potentially having several years of "temporary arrangements" if we do not take this legislative opportunity.

'What we are proposing is a legislative framework that both enables us to introduce the provider/performer arrangements and creates a more coherent legislative framework for commissioning services similar to that already introduced for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy.

'While the legislative framework will be similar the regulations made will need to reflect the specificity of optical services and we look forward to discussing these with you. As agreed, we plan to work in partnership with the optical bodies on a no surprises basis.

'In the meantime, in working with Parliamentary Counsel on the draft Bill, we have considered carefully how to achieve the most coherent and effective framework for commissioning services, taking into account what I believe is our shared objective of supporting PCTs in commissioning enhanced services, where appropriate, from GOS providers.

'To this end, the Bill enables the Secretary of State to define (in substance, although these terms are not in the Bill) essential services, which have to be provided by all PCTs and which anyone holding a GOS contract for essential services has to provide (ie sight tests for NHS patients are specified in the clause in the Bill).

'We envisage this operating like the GOS system now, ie patients able to choose their GOS contractor, contractors able to have a GOS contract provided they meet agreed national criteria as now, a centrally negotiated sight test fee and access to sight tests not being constrained locally by individual PCT budgets.'