Croydon Local Optical Committee (LOC) has announced that the Croydon Community Ophthalmology Service will no longer be run by its community company.
The contract to run the service has been awarded to Primary Eyecare Services (PES), a large NHS contractor that works alongside the Local Optical Committee Support Unit (LOCSU) and various LOCs, not including Croydon. A source at Croydon LOC told Optician that the service that PES planned to offer was of 'a lower standard'.
Chair of Croydon LOC, Chris Kerr, said: ‘A decision has been made in Moorfield’s strategic interests rather than in the interests of all stakeholders in Croydon.’
Kerr went on to note that a recent NHS White Paper had raised concerns over the competitive tendering process in the NHS. ‘Regrettably, the Croydon Community Ophthalmology Service has become an unwitting casualty of this process,’ he added.