Jo Holmes, president of ABDO, has expressed “sadness” at the decision by NHS England to publish its intention to freeze General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) fees for the fifth year in a row.
Commenting on the decision, as reported by DO Online here, Jo said: “We are in a very difficult and worrying time at the moment, and I’m saddened to see that NHS England [NHSE] has published its decision not to raise the GOS fees for the fifth consecutive year.
“After all this time, some officials within NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care [DHSC] still don’t understand, let alone value, the eyecare provided by the sector.
“The optical profession delivers an essential public health service and is under financial pressure, the same as other areas of primary care, and also fund their own premises to deliver essential clinical care.
“NHSE and the DHSC need to put proper auditing systems in place to capture the detail on eyecare, eye disease and eye problems, which will demonstrate what GOS eyecare is really worth.”
Read details of NHS general ophthalmic fees and optical voucher values for the financial year 2020 to 2021 here.