Ophthalmology
The National Eyecare Workstream supports ophthalmology in Scotland.
The small team works to share good practice, improve the primary/secondary care interface and provide evidence to support more efficient and effective patient care.
Clinically-led peer reviews
The National Eyecare Workstream supports delivery of clinically-led peer reviews for Health Boards across Scotland, with the cycle repeating every 2 to 3 years.
The semi-structured visits support service improvement by sharing good practice and assisting colleagues where there are challenges.
These visits are confidential and a brief report with recommendations is completed by the visiting team. Ongoing dialogue with the board continues as the recommendations are delivered.
Ophthalmic workforce
The National Ophthalmic Workforce (NOW) Review provides a comprehensive picture of the patient-facing ophthalmic workforce delivering services across primary and secondary care in Scotland.
This includes identification of workforce challenges, opportunities and recommendations to support informed future workforce and service planning.
National Ophthalmic Workforce Review [PDF]
Focus on Referral Management
The Focus on Referral Management (FoRM) work stream promotes the reduction of unwarranted variation and avoidable referrals from community optometry practice to the Hospital Eye Service across 5 electronic pathways:
- cataract,
- glaucoma,
- wet macular degeneration,
- paediatrics, and
- general.
Optometry Task and Finish Group Report and recommendations [PDF]
Cataract
The National Eyecare Workstream commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to review cataract surgical throughput in May 2021.
Click here to find out more about our Cataract Sub Specialty Delivery Group.
Ophthalmic data and research
The Ophthalmic data and research work stream ensures that patient-level outcome data is available across cataract surgery and long-term conditions management (including PROMS) to drive forward evidence base medicine across eyecare services.
Measuring outcomes with the Ophthalmology EPR in Scotland [PDF]