{"id":806,"date":"2020-06-29T11:04:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T10:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/?page_id=806"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:52:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:52:58","slug":"aims-of-the-loc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/about\/aims-of-the-loc\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission and Aims"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Mission Statement:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>To represent, support and communicate with local eye health professionals (Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians) to ensure, as gatekeepers of eye care, the effective delivery of Optometry Services across the whole of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prioritised Aims:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Engaging with the wider Integrated Care Partnership<\/li>\n<li>Promoting Optical Workforce to Wider Networks<\/li>\n<li>Supporting Optical Workforce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Organisational Aims of the Local Optical Committee:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To work with NHS Commissioners, Health and Wellbeing Boards and other providers to deliver integrated local eye care services focused on patients and outcomes at best value.<\/li>\n<li>To advise Commissioners on the\u00a0scope and efficiency\u00a0of eye care service locally.<\/li>\n<li>To assist in designing, piloting and commissioning local, community based services.<\/li>\n<li>To work with Optical Practices and across the health system to\u00a0improve eye health outcomes\u00a0and\u00a0reduce inequalities\u00a0in the provision of care.<\/li>\n<li>To work with partners to deliver eye care services that meet local need.<\/li>\n<li>To work with Registered Eye Care Providers to recruit, retain and develop the current and future\u00a0workforce.<\/li>\n<li>To advise the NHS on matters affecting Optometrists providing General Ophthalmic Services.<\/li>\n<li>To\u00a0enable\u00a0Registered Eye Care Providers in the area to formulate collective views and develop ideas for improvement and better ways of working.<\/li>\n<li>To provide a range of\u00a0educational events\u00a0for local Registered Eye Care Providers, ensuring opportunities for peer support and developing relationships with secondary care ophthalmologists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NTW LOC are part of a North East and North Cumbria LOC Forum which allows joint working and sharing of best practice. \u00a0Collectively, they behest <a href=\"https:\/\/primaryeyecare.co.uk\">Primary Eyecare Services<\/a>\u00a0an Optical Confederation to commission services on behalf of all Optical Practices (Opticians). \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.locsu.co.uk\/pecs\/guidance\/\">Primary Eyecare companies<\/a> across England are committed to providing the highest standard of NHS care to patients, while passing the majority of the funds paid by the NENC ICS (Integrated Care System) for services to the sub-contracted optical practices.<\/p>\n<p>This model allows ALL interested Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians within the commissioned service area to have an equal opportunity to become accredited and offer the services at their practices; helping maintain both local patient choice and a highly-skilled workforce across the whole region.<\/p>\n<p>This work is supported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.locsu.co.uk\">LOCSU<\/a> (Local Optical Committee Support Unit).<\/p>\n<p>The College of Optometry\u00a0website page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.college-optometrists.org\/the-college\/ccehc\/information-for-commissioners.html\">&#8216;Information for Commissioners&#8217;<\/a> contains useful guides covering the commissioning of various services.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mission Statement: To represent, support and communicate with local eye health professionals (Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians) to ensure, as gatekeepers of eye care, the effective delivery of Optometry Services across the whole of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear. Prioritised Aims: Engaging with the wider Integrated Care Partnership Promoting Optical Workforce to Wider Networks Supporting Optical Workforce &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/about\/aims-of-the-loc\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Mission and Aims&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"parent":12,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-806","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3492,"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/806\/revisions\/3492"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loc-online.co.uk\/northumberlandtyneandwear-loc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}