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Glaucoma Enhanced Referral (GERS):Local Service Operating within NHS Black Country.

From January 26th 2026, the GERS service will go live. The service aims to improve referral accuracy and efficiency by supporting primary care clinicians to identify potential glaucoma cases using NICE-compliant assessments, ensuring that only appropriate patients are referred to specialist clinics.

Please see the below exceptions:

Referrals based on  IOP over 23mmHg and below 32mmHg (24-31mmHg),   with normal discs, normal visual fields, and no other pathology should not be made initially. Instead, patients should be reviewed under the IOP Repeat Readings enhanced service for repeat IOP measurements before referral.

If the patient’s IOP over 31mmHg (>31mmHg) or suffering a suspected acute glaucoma attack then refer urgently or same day to HES based on your clinical judgement and College Guidance. If you are referring via Cinapsis, ensure you have selected the correct urgency.

To refer a patient into GERS, complete a GOS 18 and refer to a practice offering the GERS service. GERS optometrists have a glaucoma qualification (Prof Cert Glauc) and will filter referrals to ensure only appropriate cases are referred on to HES.
Please ensure the patient has a Black Country GP before referring into the GERS service.

For more information about the scheme please click the link below:

NHS BLACK COUNTRY GERS Service Summary Page

Here are some related resources (also available on the Regional Website):

GERS patient leaflet.pdf

Black Country GERS FAQs Guide

Black Country GERS Live Practice List

Black Country GERS Eligible GP Practice List

If after reading this information you are not already a GERS practice, please consider joining the scheme.

Email Wasim.Sarwar@primaryeyecare.co.uk