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North Yorkshire Local Optical Committee

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 9th January 2024 at the Crown Hotel in Boroughbridge.

  1. Attendees

Darryl Taylor     Philip Angel    Deryck Watts      Charlotte Turner  Eleanor Mace    Kate Malyn Katherine Friis

  1. Apologies for absence

Danielle Good, Sarah Farrell, Sarah Smith, Jack Carr, Gillian Carr

  1. Minutes of the meeting held on 24th October 2023.

Minutes read by all and deemed to be a true record of the meeting.

  1. Matters arising from the minutes held on 24th October 2023.

There were no matters arising.

  1. DORADO

York Hospital involved. Funded service for community involvement with AMD. Patients will be asked if they wish to enrol, not sure how they will recruit community practices. There will be two patient groups. One group will be seen every year and the other group every three months. Looking for markers that may indicate a change in the condition. Charlotte was involved in the Fenetre study which was looking to see if patients, who had been in the hospital clinic and were previously wet but are now dry, could be discharged to the community. Patients were seen every month for OCT. Sufficient patient numbers never materialised and then covid started. Because the patients could not attend practice, during that time, they were returned to secondary care. Whether this was a fair assessment if a community optometrist can monitor, as the optometrists they were recruiting worked in the hospital as well as the community. There seemed to be a lot of work for the fee paid.

This study is looking at putting through around 170 patients over five sites. Will the remuneration be sufficient for the time involved?

  1. HNY Eyecare Clinical Network

This is a group of clinicians, representing the primary and secondary care in Humber and North Yorkshire, together with representatives of the ICB. The meetings are scheduled monthy, usually remotely. The discussion is around GIRFT (getting it right first time). This is   a country wide NHS initiative, the idea being to encourage all those in secondary care to work in the same way.  The resistance to change is evident in the meetings. Waiting times are an issue and that is the reason the independent sector is now doing more routine cataract procedures than the hospitals. The group is looking to explore avenues to reverse this. But with waiting times at the hospitals being as they are, it may be a struggle. Training juniors is becoming an issue, because of the reduced volume of routine cataract procedures. The independent sector is now taking juniors for training.

The consultants have been aware of the situation for some time and have done little to address it. York has been somewhat isolated, as patient would have to travel to Leeds or Wakefield and there has been reluctance to do this. However, Optegra now has a clinic in York and one of the York consultants is now operating there.

  1. Referrals to secondary care.

Two cases referred to York by urgent email. One was uveitis. Patient telephoned by the referring practice 48hrs later, no contact from the hospital. Same practice telephoned the triage service to say they are sending over images of a papilloedema. They didn’t receive either referral because the inbox was full and they hadn’t cleared it.                                          Harrogate are considering setting up a glaucoma monitoring unit in Ripon. It will be a virtual service.

  1. Translation Services.

Received a document from a neighbouring LOC showing that NHS North East & North Cumbria ICB will pay for translation services. This is not available for practices within NHS North Yorkshire & Humber ICB and there are no plans for the service to be commissioned. Practices are using Google Translate as an effective means of communication.

  1. Hearing Services.

The ICB contacted the LOC regarding hearing services in Ham/Rich. They wish to explore the possibility of commissioning an NHS service in the area, as there are issues with patients with age related hearing loss. The ICB noted that, on their web sites, Specsavers in Richmond and Northallerton provide and NHS hearing service. It was explained to them that there is no commissioned service in North Yorkshire & Humber and that the commissioners for this service would be North East & North Cumbria. The ICB wished to know what the NHS service would be. Darryl will get back to them when he has the information. Katherine and Deryck will feed back to him. The general view was that a hearing service would not be welcome.

  1. Financial Report.

The profit and loss report was presented by Philip. Coming to the end of the financial year. Accounts will be ready to go to the auditors. Statutory levy payments are similar to last year. Hypertension payments are going out each month, but not in great quantity. Workforce development is slow. Applications are few but still ongoing.

  1. Any Other Business

There are substantial funds in the account that are ring fenced for hypertension payments. Would it be possible to utilise these funds for other purposes that would benefit NHS patients. School screening in North Yorkshire, with the exception of the city of York, is not routinely commissioned. Children are at risk of long term vision problems. There is also an issue with low vision provision across the region. Not sure how much is done in the trusts. Service in Harrogate, Ripon and Pately Bridge, provided by Vision Support Services and in York by the Wilberforce Trust. Myopia control is another possibility. How would the service be set up? NHSE would have to approve. Longevity of any scheme would have to be guaranteed. The hypertension service spec ends on 23 March 2024 and will probably be renewed for another year. Will ask Debbie Leadbetter for her thoughts.

The CPD day was a success. Feedback was positive. There were some issues with the food. There was comment that the presenters need to be aware of whom they are addressing. Quite a few delegates were not present for the afternoon session.

Kate has been the ophthalmic clinical adviser for the NHS for a number of years and is now being made redundant. There is no role for her in the ICB. Not sure how the ICB will manage the clinical part of practice visits.

Mention was made of the pop up shop in McCArthur Glen. Discussion ensued about the legality.

Darryl received a telephone call from Lisa Barker, (following the East Yorkshire EGM). She was forceful in her opinion that Darryl should not be the chair. Darryl then received an email from David Brett Williams with a similar message. Darryl responded with his interpretation of the LOC constitution and has received no further communication.

Philip and Darryl felt that now would a good time to step down from their respective roles. With the development of LOC companies and ICB’s the role of Chair is not as time occupying as it used to be. It is possible to have joint chairs. (Leeds and East Yorkshire have these). The Treasurers role will be more demanding but Philip would be happy to help the new incumbent settle into the role.

The AGM will be on Tuesday April 9th.

 

 


 

Notice of Relocation: NHS England & Improvement – Primary Care Team (West Yorkshire & Harrogate)

 

I am writing to let you know that our Primary Care Team, which covers the West Yorkshire and Harrogate area, has now moved from Leeds City Office Park to Quarry House in Leeds.

 

Our new address, with immediate effect, is:

 

Primary Care Commissioning North East and Yorkshire
NHS England & NHS Improvement 6E05
Quarry House
Quarry Hill
Leeds
LS2 7UE

 

You will still be able to contact members of the primary care team by email as you have done previously, however, please note that all land line numbers have been deactivated and replaced with mobile numbers. A full list of contact numbers can be found attached to this letter.

Our Primary Care Contracting email accounts remain the same, please continue to use these as they are monitored regularly throughout the day by members of the team. A list of the Optometry email accounts is listed herewith.

England.wy-optometrycontracting@nhs.net.       

for any optometry GOS contract issues or queries