NHS Southport & Formby CCG and NHS South Sefton CCG - Eyecare Services (Cataracts and Glaucoma)

NHS Southport & Formby CCG and NHS South Sefton CCG - Eyecare Services (Cataracts and Glaucoma)

NHS MLCSU is working on behalf of NHS Southport & Formby CCG and NHS South Sefton CCG who wish to award a contract for Eyecare Services - specifically a Pre-Cataract assessment service (Pre-Cats) and a Glaucoma Repeat Reading (GRR) service.

Glaucoma Repeat Reading Service

The aim of the Glaucoma Repeat Reading Service is to reduce false positive referrals to the hospital; reducing patient anxiety and increasing capacity within hospital glaucoma clinics.

The pathway is for patients referred, usually following sight test, for further investigation with signs suspicious of glaucoma but without clinical circumstances indicating urgent or emergency referral.

Pre-Cataract Assessment Service

The pre-cataract assessment pathway is evidence based and uses best practice guidance to improve the patient journey and clinical and cost effectiveness. This should lead to a reduction in unnecessary referrals as releasing much needed secondary care appointments, ensuring patients are fit for surgery at point of referral and shift of some parts of the pathway into primary care closer to the patient.

The service utilises the skills of primary care optometrists to confirm the presence of cataract, counsel the patient with the use of shared decision making and to refer on if the patient chooses and meets the CCG cataract surgery policy to the patient's choice of provider.

Most cataract referrals are made by the patient's optometrist. The patient should be referred to the unit of their choice. If the patient is under the current care of an eye unit, that unit should be considered the first choice or at least be informed and consulted about the referral. Cataract surgery performed without reference to ocular co-morbidities increases the risk of surgery and a poor outcome.

The contract will be awarded from 1st December 2020 to 31st March 2022. This is to enable time for commissioning intentions to be reviewed across the system based on both local and national priorities, in particular: • The COVID-19 Eye Care Restoration Service (CECRS) specification that has been developed under the NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) National Eye Care Restoration and Transformation programme, part of the NHSE&I National Outpatient Transformation Programme (NOTP) published in October 2020. • The recommendation from The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the College of Optometrists and the Association of Optometrists in February 2020 that CCGs should commission services as defined by the Clinical Council for Eye Health Primary Eye Care Service Framework from primary care optical practices ensuring that only patients whose conditions need secondary care input are seen in hospital thus improving capacity for patients with serious and sight-threatening conditions. This is likely to have a positive impact on patient waiting times and reduce unnecessary healthcare expenditure.

Additional information: This Notice is being published also on behalf of NHS Southport & Formby CCG, 5 Curzon Road, Southport, PR8 6PL.

This Contract Award Notice is published under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. It is for clinical services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ('Regulations'). Accordingly, the contracting authority is only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7. The contracting authority is not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations.