The Value of Vision: Six interventions to improve eye care
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has outlined a series of costed, practical steps that could revolutionise beleaguered eye care services in England - creating efficiencies and preventing avoidable sight loss as people wait for treatment. The charity’s report shows that simply offering NHS emails to primary care staff could save up to £20m each year alone.
Demand for eye care services - the largest outpatient speciality in England – is increasing. RNIB’s report, which includes analysis provided by PA Consulting, offers properly costed clues as to how they could be delivered in as effective a way as possible and prevent delays to treatment, which can result in worsening sight loss.
The proposals could make significant differences to the overall costs and capacity of eye care services, and to the lives of people with sight conditions, with every recommendation grounded in proven best practice already working successfully in parts of the UK.
The six proposals for change in the report are:
- Improve connectivity by ensuring all primary eye care providers have an NHS e-mail address
- Which would have an expected annual £20m saving to the NHS in England
- Ensure all primary eye care providers have access to advice and guidance from secondary care to reduce unnecessary referrals
- Streamline referrals by creating single points of access (SPoA)
- creating an expected annual £55m - £171m saving to the NHS in England
- Embed the Eye Care Support Pathway within clinical pathways
- Driving an expected annual £3.99m saving to the NHS in England
- Fully use the skillset of optometrists in primary care
- Expected annual savings could be as much as £77.2m to the NHS in England
- Incorporate an increased focus on tackling (Do Not Attends (DNAs) into planning guidance and the Elective Recovery programme
- Potential annual savings could be as much as £80.7m to the NHS in England, depending on the chosen approach to address DNAs
