OPERA Modules Improvements
18 February 2025
You said, we did! Primary Eyecare Services is dedicated to providing high quality enhanced eye care services to patients across England.
To be able to do this, we are always listening to our practices, stakeholders, and patients to see how best we can deliver these. We have been focused on improving our service modules in OPERA to better our Optometrists’ and Practices’ experiences while delivering our services and overall benefit our patients with the best care available.
The most recent updates reflect the feedback from users and aim to enhance the functionality and usability of the OPERA system. The updates enhance the usability with larger selection boxes and optimise the screening tool for more accurate outcomes. New pathways for Independent Prescribing (IP) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) have been introduced in commissioned areas, along with a reminded optometry-specific diagnosis catalogue. Patient resources, such as condition leaflets, can now be sent via email or text, and prescribing services are tailored to local commissioning with clearer printouts. A new section flags necessary GP actions, while referral and outcome communications are streamlined with concise messaging and mandatory fields for essential details.
As well, we launched improvements to our Ocular Hypertension Glaucoma Monitoring services OPERA modules reflecting ongoing feedback from users. The update enhances patient tracking with new Clinical Dashboard, Calendar and Workflow functions, and introduces a patient ‘acceptance’ stage to alert clinicians to patients and ensure pathway suitability. Image handling has been improved to preserve resolution, while clinical fields allow for more comprehensive records. Many features now also adapt automatically to local pathway requirements, preventing inappropriate outcome selection.
Following more feedback from our OPERA users, our Triage OPERA modules have also been updated. The new referral process introduces several improvements. A standardised covering sheet ensures consistency across all referrals, both internal and external, enhancing user-friendliness for Practitioners. Communication has improved, as Triage staff can now send feedback on referral quality to clinicians, whether they’re using the OPERA system or not. The process is streamlined, allowing Practitioners to add additional information directly to a referral without needing to resubmit it entirely. Additionally, the system reduces duplication, as referral can be actioned on the same OPRs sent by AFW without needing to be reuploaded for action.
Finally, we are excited to share the latest updates on the OPERA IT platform, focusing on the Enhanced Cataract referral module. Guided by the feedback received from users, the module redesign has been focused around supporting our Practitioners in providing shared decision making and unbiased patient choice for all patient’s Summary Care Record (SCR) to referrals, offering access to the Primary Eyecare Services Cataract Provider Choice tool (with up-to-date waiting times, CQC ratings and NOD data), and the option to send patients a link to the RNIB Understanding Cataract leaflet. Forms now incorporate lifestyle, clinical, and medical questions, along with the ability to flag suitability for a low complexity pathway or apply local scoring where relevant. Additionally, referral letters and GP notifications have been updated to streamline the process and support informed provider choice discussions.