Minister signs off Wales eyecare reform

Wales Health and Social Care Minister, Elenud Morgan

An ambitious programme for eyecare reform has now received ministerial sign off in Wales and the process for substantial change within primary care optometry can now begin at pace.

On Tuesday 20 September, Health and Social Care Minister Elenud Morgan announced details of the reform that would take place over the next 18 months. The reform process will see significant cultural change within the profession and will see the profession delivering more clinical work in the primary care setting and greater involvement in local decision making at primary care cluster level.

Sarah Schumm, chair of Optometry Wales, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to truly be part of the primary care community, to fully utilise the skills we have to be able to truly be part of the diagnosis, management and treatment of citizens in Wales. Some aspects of the reform can take place quickly and some aspects will take longer to embed but we will work with the profession, Health Education Improvement Wales, Shared Services Partnership and Welsh Government to ensure that this phased approach to implementation is as seamless for practices as possible. This is a new era of change for the profession and we are incredibly excited to help set the pace for change”

Full training and support will be arranged over the coming months as more details are shared about what will be required and what the financial package will look like starting with a webinar that will be delivered to the profession on Monday 26 September 2022. Register for the webinar here.

“We will be continuing to offer individual sessions to help all practices across Wales understand how the landscape will be changing and how to manage that change effectively,” added Sarah.

“ABDO broadly welcomes the changes that have been set out in the proposals relating to eyecare reform in Wales,” commented Debbie McGill, ABDO head of policy and public affairs. “We still have concerns that due to the cost of living crisis and rise in inflation that the revised voucher values may not be adequate to support patient need – but we have been assured that these will be reviewed to avoid an increase in health inequalities.

“We are very pleased that our dispensing and contact lens opticians have been included in relation to CPD support. The opportunities that further clinical services being delivered in primary care optical practices will also bring to our members is warmly welcomed.”