Local Services
CUES (Community Urgent Eyecare Service)
CUES will be decommissioned from 31st Dec 2026: Please use until this date
The last date for accepting new patients into CUES is 17 December 2026, allowing appointments and assessments to be completed before the service closes.
• After the 17 December 2026, new patients presenting to your practice for CUES triage should be directed to an appropriate alternative service rather than screened through CUES.
• Patients requiring follow-up care after 31 December 2026 will need to be directed to an appropriate alternative service by CUES.
Updated Oct 2026 – Advice after CUES decommissioning:
If patients present with symptoms outside the remits of a GOS NHS sight test and wish to have NHS care – then the LOC suggest saying:
“This practice no longer offers an NHS service for your symptoms as this funding was stopped. If you wish to have NHS care, then you can either call NHS 111 for advice or present to your local A&E”
The LOC and LOCSU will produce template letters to provide to any patients who used to use CUES and want to express dissatisfaction with these changes, to direct them to complain directly to the ICB.
Letter for Practice to give to a Patient CUES decommissioned
LOC’s Updated CUES communication Oct 2026: Here
Information on CUES:
CUES is a core competency and so does not require any WOPEC accreditation.
CUES is designed to limit presentations of urgent conditions to GPs, Pharmacies, NHS 111 and A&E. It covers symptoms which may indicate conditions such as retinal detachment, maculopathy, foreign body and uveitis. CUES is a symptom lead service – whilst a dry eye diagnosis might come from a CUES appointment, this service does not allow for monitoring
CUES is commissioned in :
- Southampton
- West Hampshire
- North Hampshire
- Isle of Wight
CUES service summary – here
Referring on after CUES appointment; how to guide – here
CUES Practice Provider list for Isle of Wight – here
Eligibility Criteria – here
Summary Symptom Flowchart – here
CUES claims are processed via OPERA, and the contract is overseen by Primary Eyecare Services. Please see their website for more information – here
To see a list of practices offering CUES appointments see the Primary Eyecare Find A Practice page – here
CUES poster (November 2022 ) sent to GP practice teams across Hampshire & Isle of Wight – here
For IP Practitioners with an FP10, please find the Hampshire and Isle of Wight formulary – here
CUES is delivered OPERA. Please visit Primary Eyecare Services – here or contact Katie Atkins, Clinical Lead, PES for any support needs – Katie.Atkins@primaryeyecare.co.uk
Glaucoma Services
All community glaucoma services delivered through OPERA were decommissioned as of 1st April 2025
Repeat Pressures and/or Visual Fields are not part of GOS and any further investigation requires referral for Ophthalmological opinion within a hospital setting
Imaging, including OCT is not mandatory in referrals. Please alert the LOC to any referral rejections requesting Repeat Pressures, Visual Fields or Imaging. The LOC can be contacted via email – manager@hampshireloc.org.uk
LOC suggested commentary when rejecting requests for additional data, such as repeat IOP, Visual Fields or Imaging as part of a glaucoma suspect referral – here
Webinar recording from April 2025, discussing closure of services – here
Stable Glaucoma in Portsmouth and Fareham, Gosport and SE Hampshire
Glaucoma Monitoring is commissioned in Portsmouth and Fareham, Gosport & SE Hampshire. Patients with stable intraocular pressures and visual fields may be referred into the community for monitoring of their condition. This service is still ongoing (Updated October 2026)
Stable Glaucoma Service Specification for Fareham & Gosport and South Eastern Hampshire – here
Stable Glaucoma Claim Form for Fareham & Gosport and South Eastern Hampshire – here
Post – Operative Cataract Services
In April 2025, the HIOW ICB ceased to commission the Post-Operative Cataract Service pathway for HIOW Trust hospitals. This primarily affected patients from Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital (Isle of Wight NHS Foundation Trust), and Lymington Peripheral Clinic.
Therefore for the most of HIOW the NHS Post-Operative Cataract Services is now only available when a patient has been seen by an ISP (Independent Sector Provider). Patients are to be seen 4-6 weeks after their surgery, with the results provided to the ISP for audit.
However, Frimley Trust has commissioned its own post-op cataract service for patients who had their surgery at a Frimley Trust location. This funding is separate from any ICB. This therefore includes patients whose home address or GP surgery falls within the HIOW ICB footprint.
The Frimley Trust locations are:
-
Frimley Park
-
Heatherwood (Ascot)
-
Wexham Park (Wexham Park)
Any patient seen for their cataract surgery at a Frimley Trust location can be seen by a practice who have signed up to provide cataract services via OPERA to provide the NHS Post-Op Cataract Service.
The practice will be paid by Primary Eye Care Services (PES) for the episode as per the usual process.
These patients will appear on the Opera dashboard for booking when they are transferred by Frimley Trust (similar to any post-ops from ISP).
For any support for Post-Op Cataract episodes using OPERA, please visit Primary Eyecare Services – here or contact Katie Atkins, Clinical Lead, PES – Katie.Atkins@primaryeyecare.co.uk
However, please do alert the LOC to any trust (other than Frimley) requesting information from an optometrist in order to complete a post-op report. The LOC can be contacted via email – manager@hampshireloc.org.uk
LOC suggested commentary when rejecting requests from Trust: – here
“Can I claim a GOS 1 alongside a Post-Op cataract assessment?” – here
NHS Sight Tests in Special Educational Setting (SES)
Update Sept 2026: A new Special Educational Settings sight testing and spectacle dispensing service is being rolled out across specialist educational settings for children and young people up to age 25 across the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area. The service will be delivered by SeeAbility from November 2026 for an initial five-year period. This is a complementary NHS General Ophthalmic Service (GOS), and pupils and parents/carers retain full choice on where they are seen. If you have any questions email hiow.pod@nhs.net