Labour announces High Street eyecare plan

Shadow health minister, Karin Smyth MP

In a keynote address to the Institute for Government’s (IFG) annual conference today, shadow health minister Karin Smyth announced that the next Labour government would negotiate a new deal to deliver NHS out-patient appointments via High Street opticians.

Speaking in place of Wes Streeting, shadow secretary of state for health and social care, who was unable to attend the IFG event due to illness, the Labour MP for Bristol South highlighted the fact that more than 600,000 people were currently waiting for NHS ophthalmology appointments.

“It’s a desperate choice between losing your eyesight or paying to go private,” she said, adding that many appointments could be made simply at optical practices which had the technology to provide NHS eye health care services. This would tackle NHS backlogs, she said, free up services, provide patients with greater convenience and “be cheaper for the tax payer”.

The move would exemplify Labour’s partnership approach to NHS reform and build an NHS ‘Fit for the Future’ that is “there when people need it”.

In May 2023, NHS England admitted that ophthalmology was “currently the busiest out-patient speciality in secondary care and makes up almost 10 per cent of the entire waiting list”.

Commenting on the statement by made Karin Smyth, Alistair Bridge, ABDO CEO, said: “ABDO welcomes this commitment to tackling avoidable sight loss by drawing on the expertise of the primary eyecare team to relieve the pressure on hospitals and deliver timely care more efficiently and closer to home.

“As key members of the primary eyecare team, dispensing opticians and contact lens opticians have important roles to play in providing enhanced eyecare services, building on the success of the national sight testing service,” he added.

The Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians (FODO) also welcomed the call to do more in primary eyecare, reduce pressure on ophthalmology and prevent avoidable sight loss in England.

Harjit Sandhu, FODO managing director, said: “Hospital colleagues in ophthalmology are under unsustainable pressure and patients are suffering avoidable sight loss due to delays in care. Primary eyecare providers are happy to help in any way we can to provide more care outside of hospital and closer to home. Working together we can meet growing patient needs in a more sustainable way and most importantly help prevent sight loss due to delays in care.”

Today’s statement at the IFG aligns with FODO’s ‘Principles and priorities for primary eye care’, which calls for more to be done to ensure patients can access the right care in the right place at the right time to tackle avoidable sight loss.

Harjit explained: “The national sight testing service is a vital part of the national public health infrastructure and one of the most efficient and successful parts of the NHS, which must be preserved. We all want to build on this solid foundation, making the best use of our highly skilled workforce and world-class primary eye care infrastructure. Now is the time to work together to ensure everybody in England can access the enhanced primary eye care services they need.”

Adam Sampson, chief executive of the Association of Optometrists, said: “We welcome the Labour Party’s focus on primary eyecare. We are facing a health crisis in this country. This includes a hospital waiting list emergency, with growing numbers of patients facing avoidable and irreversible sight loss due to delays.

“Labour have quite rightly acknowledged the important role of primary eyecare services in the community in reducing the backlog and we are committed to helping wherever we can to design services that meet demand and the needs of patients. Fixing eyecare does not require years of investment in new facilities and staff training. Optometrists on the High Street have the premises, the equipment and the clinical skills to deliver accessible, high-quality eyecare. All it takes is the political vision to make sure optometry is able to provide the care patients need.”

Giles Edmonds, clinical services director at Specsavers, commented: “Dispensing opticians and contact lens opticians, with optometrists, are a key part of optical services in the community but there is so much more we could do to protect our patients’ sight, keep them safe and well and take pressure off hospital services. As a leading provider of NHS primary care ophthalmic services, we welcome the Labour Party’s plan to make greater use of High Street optometry services to cut waiting lists and provide more accessible and convenient care for patients, and stand ready to partner with NHS hospital eye services to improve patient care.”