Enhanced Services – North Essex

The aim of any Glaucoma Referral refinement pathway is to reduce false positive referrals to the hospital eye service, reducing patient anxiety and increasing capacity within the overburdened hospital glaucoma clinics. This should provide a more cost-effective service with a greater number of patients managed within the primary care setting.

Glaucoma Repeat Readings pathway is for patients with raised intraocular pressures with no other signs of glaucoma e.g  Patient with suspect disc changes or multiple signs of glaucoma.

The Post Operative Cataract Services enables patients to have their post operative assessment in an optical practice within their locality, at the same time as their refraction, helping avoid extra appointments and unnecessary travel to the hospital where their surgery was undertaken.

The Minor Eye Conditions’ Service allows the assessment and management of recent onset minor eye conditions within the primary care setting. The service is for both adults and children; there is no age limit for the service. Children under 16 who attend the service must be accompanied to their appointment by a responsible adult.

The aim of the service is to use the skills of primary care optometrists to assess, manage and prioritise patients presenting with an eye condition, improving eyecare services for patients in North East Essex. Where patient referral to secondary care is required, this will be within agreed protocols to a suitable specialist with appropriate urgency.

The following symptoms can be assessed in the MECS:

• Red eye or eyelids
• Dry, gritty or uncomfortable eyes
• Eye irritation and inflammation
• A lot of recent discharge from the eye or watery eye
• Recently occurring flashes or floaters
• Painful eye
• Ingrowing lashes
• Recent and sudden loss of vision
• Foreign body in the eye

Patients can be referred or sign-posted to the service by their GP, Pharmacist, A&E or Optometrist or they can self-refer.

The practices below are able to offer paediatric services.

The service aims to utilise the skills of primary care optometrists in the shared care of selected patients who have been diagnosed with OHT or glaucoma.   Core competency optometrists gather and transmit data via OPERA for virtual review by the hospital clinicians.