I am pleased to be participating at Optrafair soon on a panel discussing the future of optics. The future optical business model is widely discussed and the panel will be a chance to explore this challenging and ever-changing future.
At Locsu our core aim is to support Local Optical Committees and Primary Eyecare Companies. Our activity and support aim to ensure that they are both engaged in the development of the future, through discussion with the NHS commissioning bodies as well as being able to facilitate a commissionable offer increasingly through large scale primary eyecare companies and engagement with emerging STPs and Integrated Care Systems (ICOs). These discussions are not just about ophthalmic care; increasingly as a sector, we need to define and understand where optometry fits in wider care pathways.
Future arrangements could see eyecare services established where all providers will be in a position to deliver against defined health outcomes and primary care delivering services currently delivered by the acute sector where the price differential will be less relevant.
In addition to being the first port of call for eye health, LOCs and PECs can flourish where they can add value to wider patient care; for example, the work in Dudley around the Healthy Optical Practice service provides the kernel of a model to drive future services.
I hope some of you can attend the question and answer session ‘MECS or Specs? The future of Optics’ on Saturday, April 14, at Optrafair in Birgmingham. But you can catch up on the debate by signing up to our newsletter on the communications page of the Locsu website.