The Optical Confederation (OC), of which ABDO is a member, has written an open letter to NHS England reminding them that many optical practices are continuing to rely on faxes to hospitals, or letters to “overstretched GPs” to refer patients into secondary care.
The OC claims that in the last two years, NHS England has twice identified potential primary care budget underspends up of to £10m, that could not be used in the time available. It is now urgently calling on the NHS to prioritise the “relatively small expenditure” (estimated to be £750,000) required for IT connectivity between optical practices and the rest of the NHS from current budgets in 2019/20 – “to avoid the need to rely on an end-of-year underspend that may not allow enough time for implementation”.
Read the letter in full on the OC website.