The following message was sent out today by NHS England & Improvement
Dear Contractor,
Please find attached the re-opening letter for optometry which has just been released, along with The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). We have also included a risk assessment checklist to support your practice in moving towards the safe resumption of GOS. If you are not in a position to resume provision of GOS at this time, please notify us by reply to this email.
A summary of the key points it set out here:
- Government guidance allows retail premises to re-open from 15 June. It is therefore now appropriate to enable optical premises to commence re-opening and for practices to begin the resumption of provision of GOS services.
- NHS England and Improvement supports the guidance released by the College of Optometrists that sets out ways in which practices should be adapted in the current circumstances. This can be found here: https://www.college-optometrists.org/the-college/media-hub/news-listing/coronavirus-2019-advice-for-optometrists.html
- Optical practices should also take steps to risk assess their workforce and take commensurate actions. The attached risk assessment checklist will support your preparations in this respect.
Financial and contractual arrangements
- NHS England and NHS Improvement will cease the current temporary contract arrangements at 30 June 2020; and will work with the Optical Fees Negotiation Committee (OFNC) to confirm financial arrangements as services begin to resume.
PPE:
There is now a list of several national wholesalers who are willing to supply optometrists directly. The attached list includes the contact details for those wholesalers and has been shared with the OFNC plus each of the professional organisations.
The AOP have added this list to their PPE suppliers page which can be found here:
https://www.aop.org.uk/coronavirus-updates/ppe-suppliers
Thank you for your continued support and patience during this challenging time.
