In ‘Life-changing guidance comes at a cost’ (December 8, 2017), Moneo rightly highlights that NHS commissioners need to understand that implementation of the NICE guidelines requires funding.
Locsu agrees it is crucial to ensure, in the absence of a national commissioning approach, the 35% of CCGs who have yet to commission a repeat readings service appreciate the recommendations NICE has made on case finding for primary eye care professionals are separate to a sight test, so there will continue to be an unnecessary high rate of false referrals in their area due to the lack of commissioning.
The Locsu briefing, Key points and Actions for Local Optical Committees (LOCs) and Primary Eyecare Companies, that was issued to LOCs and LOC companies on November 28, 2017, set out the steps for LOCs and LOC companies to take if there is a repeat measures service in place, but also explained the implications of the new guidance for areas that do not have a repeat measures scheme.
A template letter was included for LOCs in those areas to send to their CCGs to request a meeting to discuss the commissioning of appropriate services to ensure local commissioning arrangements are compliant with NICE guidelines.
We also recommend optometrists should consider including a statement along the lines of ‘This referral is being made based on non-contact tonometry results due to the fact that no repeat measures service has been commissioned’, if referrals are made based on non-contact tonometry results in the meantime.