Press release: ABDO responds to the NHS 10-Year Health Plan

The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) has submitted its formal response to the government’s public consultation on the NHS, designed to help shape the government’s 10-Year Health Plan.

ABDO’s response was informed by feedback from members and includes a call for the plan to address “the long-standing systemic challenges and inefficiencies within the commissioning and delivery of eyecare services across England, including the hospital eye service “.

The response also calls for a commitment to “addressing the long-standing funding gap for the NHS sight-testing service to ensure the viability of primary eyecare and the clinical teams employed within it” and to “fully utilise the clinical skills of the registered eyecare workforce based in primary care, including dispensing opticians (DOs)”.

Short-term actions for change submitted by ABDO include NHS email for all primary care clinicians, including DOs, widening of enhanced eyecare pathways, CPD funding for DOs to support primary care workforce development, and the addition of DOs to the ophthalmic performers list. Longer-term actions for change suggested including addressing continued underfunding of the NHS GOS sight test and supporting practices to deliver the NHS Green agenda and become net zero ahead of the government’s 2040 target.

ABDO CEO Alistair Bridge said: “We are all aware of the huge challenges within the NHS – and the suggested ‘three big shifts in healthcare’ are long overdue. A greater focus on community rather than hospital care, and investing more in prevention, mean that DOs could play an even bigger role in their patients’ clinical care in the future.”

Max Halford, ABDO’s clinical lead, commented: “We recognise that there will be opportunities for our members to help in the shift of work from hospital to community, to ensure patients are seen in a timely manner, local to their home and by registered clinicians they know and trust. For this to happen, we need to ensure that DOs and their colleagues in the wider eyecare professions have access to digital technologies that will ensure patient data is easily accessed across the healthcare system.”

Read ABDO’s full response here.

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