Service Rating:
5:
A | A | A
Primary Eyecare Services is a not for profit primary eye care provider at scale.
Primary Eyecare Services is a primary care provider at scale with expertise in primary and community eye care services.
We operate in 800 neighbourhoods working across 30 ICBs in England, delivering high quality eye care services.
The lead provider for primary and community eye care services utilising local optometry practices in neighbourhoods for local delivery close to where people live, work or care for family
Primary Eyecare Services is a limited company by guarantee (without share capital). This means it has no shareholders and as such no dividends paid out to such shareholders. Primary Eyecare Services has one member; the LOC Central Support Unit. The member has no day-to-day involvement in the management of Primary Eyecare Services and there is no financial relationship between Primary Eyecare Services and LOC Central Support Unit.
This structure has enabled greater utilisation of optometry and maintaining a ‘not for profit’ approach to delivery of our purpose.
YES. Primary Eyecare Services is a limited company by guarantee and working as a not-for-profit organisation. We aim for only a small surplus (~1%) to ensure sustainability and any surpluses achieved are reinvested back into NHS eye care service delivery and support as well as organisational resilience through maintenance of a proportionate reserves policy.
Primary Eyecare Services has an experienced board of directors which brings together experience from within the eye care sector and from beyond to provide effective organisational leadership in our drive to deliver against our purpose.
As part of our governance arrangements, the board meets at least four times a year and has a number of subcommittees. These subcommittees support the effective governance across quality, finance, risk and people management.
The Board of directors is supported by an experienced and effective executive team lead by our CEO and wider senior leadership team.
Primary Eyecare Services has an experienced and effective team across a multitude of functions, which enable our service delivery and management of a large network of optometry practice and other subcontractors.
Primary Eyecare Services has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with many Local Optical Committees across England. Local Optical Committees are the statutory representative’s committees for NHS optometry practices and practitioners. The MoU sets out our partnership working arrangement with the Local Optical Committees.
Primary Eyecare Services and the Local Optical Committees remain separate independent organisations with Local Optical Committees carrying out the role of being the local impartial representative committees. This ensures there are no conflicts of interest.
Primary Eyecare Services is a not for profit, primary care provider at scale.
Optometry practices providing face to face care in areas Primary Eyecare Services delivers eye care are subcontractor practices. Primary Eyecare Services utilises a network of subcontractor optometry practices in local neighbourhoods close to where people live, work or care for family.
Primary Eyecare Services remains accountable for the service and all care delivered.
As all optometry practices in an area are invited to participate in the locally commissioned services we deliver, subject to the practice and the clinicians meeting the accreditation requirements. It is not compulsory for a practice to participate but both multiple and independent practices have opted to get involved in all areas we are commissioned in.
Every subcontractor practice must provide a minimum standard of governance assurance and associated documentation to enable Primary Eyecare Services to provide the appropriate assurance as lead accountable provider to NHS commissioners. This includes compliance through Quality in Optometry (QiO) and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT).
In addition, we manage practitioner assurance through a variety of regulatory checks (i.e. GOC/GMC) and collation and tracking of appropriate mandatory (e.g. Safeguarding and DBS) and clinical professional accreditations or higher qualifications (E.g. WOPEC/College of Optometrist Qualifications).
YES – Primary Eyecare Services also works with a number of GP Practice locations and Voluntary sector organisation locations to delivery various eye care services, where this supports high quality effective patient care.
Primary Eyecare Services provides digital expertise and infrastructure as an enabler to the delivery of the primary and community eye care services it is contracted for.
As part of this function Primary Eyecare Services appointed Referral Management Services (RMS) as an IT partner in August 2020. RMS has experience with optometry referrals, dental referral management and extended services in dentistry.
RMS provide and maintain the OPERA IT platform for use by Primary Eyecare Services and its subcontractor practices. RMS is an independent organisation and not legally connected with Primary Eyecare Services beyond the commercial partnership arrangements in place for the provision of these IT services.
