Latest News from Hampshire LOC – 09 February 2024

10 February 2024

UHS – OPERA Referrals Update

We understand that some of you have received some concerning emails from the University Hospital Southampton administration team stating that your routine and urgent referrals via OPERA have not been received since November 2023.

We can confirm that following urgent review of the matter, it appears this claim is down to miscommunication between various UHS teams. All referrals sent via OPERA from the 4th of December to 7th of February are currently being verified as received with the UHS teams.

Please rest assured that this verification process is underway and will be complete as soon as possible. Should any of your referrals have been missed by UHS, this will be remedied as per their internal escalation processes. All up to date referral pathways and details are listed on Hampshire LOC’s website – here

In the meantime, should you wish to discuss any of the above, please contact your local clinical lead, Rukaiya Anwar on – Rukaiya.anwar@primaryeyecare.co.uk

Hampshire LOC OSCE Success!

On Wednesday 31 January Wessex Optical kindly hosted an evening of Glaucoma and MECS OSCEs for Hampshire LOC at their Romsey practice. Our thanks to Zabir and his team for their support.

Assessors and “students” arrived from across Hampshire for the evening which was managed in orderly fashion by Sasha Macken from WOPEC.

Whilst there was an air of trepidation at the start of the evening, one of the participants wrote afterwards, “the WOPEC exams was a lovely experience.  The examiners were all so lovely, and the host was very pleasant.   I was very, very nervous, but I would like to say it was an amazing experience.” (edited)

The evening resulted in 20 optometrists successfully completing their Glaucoma and/or MECS OSCEs, so well done to everyone involved.

It’s Booked! – Hampshire LOC AGM – Chilworth Manor Hotel – 05 June 2024

The 2024 Hampshire LOC AGM is taking place on Wednesday evening 05 June 2024 from 18:30hrs at Chilworth Manor Hotel

Website – here
Apple Maps – here
Google Maps – here

Further information on the evening will be sent out in April.

As part of the evening the LOC likes to include a CPD event, either a Speaker or training as we did last year with a peer review session.

This year we would like to hear from you as to what form of CPD you would like to have at the AGM.

Please email our Business Manager isilk@hampshireloc.org.uk with your thoughts by Monday 12 February 2024, so that the committee can review and decide on what CPD to provide you with.

Is everyone in your practice learning disability and autism aware?

SeeAbility is delivering Tier 1 training to optical professionals and non-clinical practice staff, including reception and optical assistant colleagues. Reception staff are usually the first point of contact but may be unaware of how the sight test can be made accessible including to patients who cannot access the letter chart.   We are grateful to Thomas Pocklington Trust for their support enabling SeeAbility to be able to offer this training free of charge to the optical sector.   There are two parts to Tier 1 training:

1 – You must complete E-Learning on The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training On Learning Disabilities & Autism before you attend the webinar – here

2 – Attend the live one hour webinar which we have logged with the GOC for one interactive point. The webinar is delivered by a trio of trainers including trainers with lived experience of learning disabilities and autism.

As part of our evaluation, we will ask to follow up with a percentage of participants to carry out evaluation structured interviews / focus groups.

Book the webinar – here

Read more information on the mandatory learning disability and autism training – here

For further information, please contact s.kill@seeability.org

Find out more – here

Amniotic membrane: A potential solution for Dry Eye Disease?

Dr Andrew Hopkinson, Chief Scientific Officer of NuVision, along with this colleague Chris Blake will lead a lecture, discussion and skills workshop to provide:

• a comprehensive understanding of amniotic membrane transplantation in a sutureless, surgery-free setting,
• a hands-on demonstration of applying amniotic membrane using a bespoke contact lens, and
• an opportunity for you to handle both the membrane and CL, gaining practical experience in the application and insertion process.

Anyone wishing to use amniotic membrane in practice needs to be certified to do so.  The aim of this session is to provide you with the necessary knowledge and training required for certification.  3 Interactive CPD points will be available.

When: Thursday 29th February 2024
6pm – finger buffet and drinks
6.30pm – presentation begins
8pm – close

Where: Prema Clinic, Compass Rd, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 4RP
Google Maps – here
Apple Maps –  here

Registration is required for this event as places are strictly limited. For more information or to register to attend, please email events@laservision.co.uk including your GOC number and any dietary requirements, or follow the link to the events section on our website – here

Opportunity to participate in the Electronic Referral Service (eRS) Pilot

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ICB are taking part in a pilot run by NHS Digital and are looking for optometrists within the Portsmouth and South East localities who would like to be involved. Optometrists from the rest of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are welcome to volunteer also, as long as they see patients who choose Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust  for their ophthalmology treatment, as they are the only provider taking part in the pilot currently.

Please see the attached document for further details but essentially:

• The pilot will give optometrists access to refer patients directly to Portsmouth Hospitals via the e-Referrals Service (formally known as Choose and Book).
• Those who wish to take part will be provided with an authentication key, allowing them to access a web based version of eRS to send referrals
• This can be done without the need for an HSCN connection, which has been a barrier to optometrists accessing the system in the past
• Implementation support and Training will be provided by NHS England’s Digital Partnering Team
• The training will be delivered virtually via MS Teams. Virtual training has been provided in other ICB’s and feedback from Optoms was that it met their expectations
• The pilot will be for Medical Retinal conditions only initially, but could extend to additional ophthalmology pathways as the pilot progresses
• Being part of the pilot removes the need for optometrists to refer medical retinal patients to their GP for onward referral to Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust.
• It also enables two way communication as Portsmouth Hospitals consultants will have the option to ask the optometrist for additional information, advise on how the patient can be managed in the community or accept the referral

The aim of the pilot is to determine whether the NHS e-Referral Service is a suitable system for digitising referrals from optometrists to Hospital Eye Service Providers and to understand the business change effort needed for any further roll out.

If you would like to take part please contact the ICB via email – hiowicb-hsi.icbelectivecaremailbox@nhs.net

If you don’t feel you are able to take part, please also make contact to let us know what the barriers or challenges to this are.

The aim of the pilot is to determine whether the NHS e-Referral Service is a suitable system for digitising referrals from optometrists to Hospital Eye Service Providers and to understand the business change effort needed for any further roll out.

Further information – here

Optegra -Hampshire Hospital CPD Event  – Come Diagnose With Me: Diabetes – presented by Mr Steve Lash – Tuesday 20th February, from 6:30pm

Please see attached invitation for upcoming in person CPD event at our Hampshire  hospital.

Invitation – here