Bill Harvey: Delivering the goods

The clinic where I work is in the northern part of central London, an area which is a pilot site for the new electronic eyecare referrals system (EeRS). Last week, I joined a webinar that explained the new referral system and, I have to say, I was most impressed.

For too long, now, England has suffered great disparity between regions in the way referrals are undertaken. In some places, only emergency and a few dedicated ‘fast-track’ referrals are sent direct from the primary care optometrist to the hospital. The remainder are still sent via the GP who then, in effect, is burdened with an administrative role in deciding upon the best route and urgency for any specific case. This is clearly a waste of skills and resources. Other systems have cropped up where pretty well every condition is referred to a halfway house triage centre for re-appraisal and a decision about ongoing management. This adds an extra tier to the patient management, wasting both money and time, while also undermining the discretion and judgement of the initial primary care optometrist initiating the referral.