What is happening at this stage:
You may recall a report in the PV, April 2019, which gave some detail about the proposed work for eye care for children attending special school in England. This report aims to provide an update on progress with this. Stakeholders have been working together to move towards a centrally funded system whereby ALL children attending Special School in England receive comprehensive eye care within school by a MDT special schools eye care team. This is something that you have all either achieved in your area or continue to strive for and work really hard for but it is not the case everywhere.
Service Framework Documentation (notification will be given when these are published, further information can be accessed via the contact emails below):
The steering group for NHS England has developed documentation that provides a framework for the programme. I would like to highlight the following within those documents;
- Implementation is not intended to dismantle or duplicate existing provision.
- A Stakeholder group for each area will be set up to guide the set up and governance.
- Ophthalmologists, optometrists, orthoptists, dispensing opticians, and ophthalmic nurses are recognised practitioners in the core eye health professions.
- Flexible approach to implementation due to varied historical development of services.
Training:
NHS England have appointed Health & Care Innovations (H&CI) to develop a generic non-clinical skills training programme to support health care professionals who will be working in special schools.
A selection of training modules specific to visual assessment in children with special needs will be created. It is anticipated that clinicians will self certificate, choosing courses which meet their needs either as new or refresher training. For those who have not previously been involved in a special school eye care programme, a visit to an existing service and logbook of cases is also anticipated to form part of the sign off. The logistics and development of the training requirements are still under development and discussion.
Fee & Proof of concept:
Negotiations are well underway with the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC). As it is really important to organise the correct fee, proof of concept work is planned. This means different areas are agreeing to take part in service delivery to provide information on costs. HES services replying to the SEN CAG special school service have been approached for their interest in this. In addition, NHS England has approached Local Optometric Committees (LOC’s) for Optometry practices that may wish to host the service for proof of concept work in areas where there is no current provision.
Communications and Engagement:
NHS England have completed a day’s filming at a special school and will be produced three short videos which explain the purpose and benefits of assessing vision in special school, one each directed at parents, schools and health care professionals. Once these are available, we would be asking them to be shared via all stakeholders. NHS England have and continue to attend various conferences to share this information.
Further communication:
There will be an update about how existing services should bid for funding where the service can identify gaps in their current service when mapping this against the service specification – for example not enough optometry sessions, no dispensing optician service. NHS England, are aware that secondary care services may be not as experienced in bidding for this type of contract and so further information about this will be shared when the process for this has been established. It would be advisable to read the attached documentation and map your existing services against the service specification to identify the elements of the service that you may require funding to implement.
Contact emails: louise.allen@liverpool.ac.uk
