Another financial year, another freeze in General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) payments. It’s almost impressive how the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) delivers disappointing news with metronomic precision. If nothing else, the organisation is reliably ineffective.
Should anyone be surprised, though? Well, yes, I think a little surprise is reasonable in this instance. For a number of years now, optics has ramped up the charm offensive to ministers in an effort to highlight the work of optometrists and their potential scope in helping relieve some of the pressure on the NHS.
So, it’s not outlandish to expect some results, especially if you’re a fee-paying member of an association that’s acting on your behalf. Some will argue that political lobbying is part of a bigger picture for what’s further down the road, but GOS is part of the here and now.
If ministers can’t see the value in GOS, how does anyone expect them to take a reasonable view on proposed services like community glaucoma monitoring?
With so much potentially up for grabs, it is put up or shut up time for the OFNC, because it needs to convert the hard yards that others are doing in the corridors of Westminster.
I’m not saying for one second that it has an easy job, because it is almost impossible to convince the Department of Health and Social Care that an eye test has a set monetary value, when members of the OFNC work or have worked for companies that offer sight tests for nothing. It’s impossible to justify.
Cheap prescription glasses also muddy the water, with low advertised prices that soon ramp up when lens options are added to orders.
The headline cost is what catches the eye of the public, but it must also catch the attention of those that hold the purse strings in government. The industry is shooting itself in the foot and it’s difficult to see that changing anytime soon.
