NHS Confederation Programme: Trailblazing Transformations in Eye Care
14 February 2026
Primary Eyecare Services is the expert partner, working with NHS Confederation and Q Community on an ambitious eight-month improvement programme designed to shift more ophthalmology care from hospital into local communities. As waiting times continue to rise across the NHS, this collaborative initiative is helping local systems build the pathways, capacity and infrastructure needed to deliver safe, effective and accessible eye care closer to home. Through shared learning, expert coaching and strong engagement, the programme is already laying the foundations for long-term sustainable transformation in line with the NHS’s 10-Year Plan.
Primary Eyecare Services are the expert partner in an active eight-month improvement programme, delivered in collaboration with NHS Confederation and Q Community. This ongoing initiative is currently supporting healthcare services as ophthalmology care transitions from hospital settings into the heart of local communities.
Throughout 2025 and into 2026, ophthalmology continues to be the busiest outpatient specialty in the NHS, with significant waiting times for diagnosis and treatment. These delays can have a serious impact on patients, sometimes permanently affecting their quality of life. The active development programme supported by Primary Eyecare Services is already making strides towards bringing ophthalmology services closer to home, enhancing both access and outcomes for patients, and setting a clear direction towards shifting more patient care from hospital to community-based settings.
Together with NHS Confederation and Q Community, Primary Eyecare Services are currently supporting local teams across primary care optometry, acute, and ICS footprints to understand, plan and establish the infrastructure and processes necessary for delivering ophthalmology care closer to home by July 2026. Through Primary Eyecare Services’ membership of the NHS Confederation Primary Care Network, we have been able to ensure active engagement and involvement of Local Optical Committees in this development programme. The programme is actively enabling services to enhance their capacity to diagnose, treat, and manage a wide range of eye conditions directly within patients’ local communities.
The development programme is now underway, running from November 2025 to July 2026, and involves up to six teams across England. Key sub-specialty services of focus throughout the programme are glaucoma, children & young people, medical retina and urgent eye care. The teams will be engaged in six structured virtual learning sessions, benefiting from tailored coaching and expert guidance to create robust local transition plans. The sessions are focused on driving meaningful change, assessing local needs and capacity, developing effective engagement strategies, and conducting thorough evaluations. Responding to the current challenges of long waiting lists and access pressures, this partnership is already demonstrating that shifting care closer to home can significantly reduce waiting times and improve patient experience. The programme is laying the groundwork for national transformation in eye care delivery.
NHS Confederation, a membership organisation representing the entire healthcare system in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, continues to play a pivotal role. Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of NHS Confederation, commented: “For the NHS to be fit for the future, we now have to move from theory to practice. Those that can do this successfully will not only make a difference to patients within their own areas but will serve as part of the vanguard for the change that we need to see nationally”.
Dharmesh Patel, Chief Executive Officer of Primary Eyecare Services, has welcomed the momentum for change, stating: “There is so much scope to build on this success by expanding the range of services available to include more of those normally located within hospitals.”
This programme is a living embodiment of the NHS’s 10-Year Plan, ‘Fit for the Future’, which aims to embed optometry within its core objectives of moving eye care from hospitals into community settings and prioritising early prevention. Through ongoing digital transformation, the programme is actively improving patient access and outcomes, setting the standard for future NHS care.