Evolving Governance 2021–2022
With Richard Knight, Head of Policy
Strong governance is essential to the success of primary eye care. Consequently, developing, promoting and supporting best practice governance is a core element of LOCSU’s role.
In 2021, we began to emerge from the pandemic and embark on a recovery trajectory. Simultaneously, the legislation needed to support the requirements of the NHS Long Term Plan went through the parliamentary process.
In times of both disruptive and constructive change, governance takes on even greater importance. The creation of much larger stakeholder groups, in the form of Integrated Care Systems, means it is critical that all entities in primary eyecare demonstrate robust and effective governance processes so that they present a credible, valuable solution to the challenge of integrated patient care.
Alongside its work to support sector-wide governance, in 2021-2022 LOCSU also devoted significant resources to supporting LOC governance. This resulted in the publication of the LOC Guide, which is a single point of reference advising LOCs on all aspects of duties and operations.
LOCSU’s Head of Policy, Richard Knight, shares his thoughts on how a strong approach to governance has continued to support the sector in the past year.
Governance Underpinning Rapid Response and Continued Performance
“The response to the pandemic and subsequent recovery has been a very positive story for LOCs and primary eyecare. It became necessary to bring in new kinds of governance for clinical practices and regimes, acting according to rapidly evolving regulations and guidance. The strong foundation of governance already in place in the optical sector meant that it was able to maintain continuity of service in a way not possible in many other healthcare settings.
“As a result of the unprecedented adoption of the Covid-19 Urgent Eyecare Service – commissioned rapidly by 80% of CCGs – members of the public were able to access quality eyecare in a safe environment. Patients using CUES avoided hospital attendance, relieving pressure on secondary care settings at a critical time.
“Now, the continued success of CUES and the ongoing provision via MECS is demonstrating the value of primary eyecare, and we are seeing the NHSEI National Eye Care Recovery & Transformation Programme calling for greater use and optimisation of these contracts to meet the requirements specified in the Long Term Plan.”
“Without the robust governance already in place, we would not have seen the speed of development and willingness to commission CUES from CCGs. Now, as we start to work with far larger stakeholder groups, governance will once again be central to producing credible, constructive propositions to cement the role of primary eyecare in integrated patient care pathways.”
Richard Knight, LOCSU Head of Policy
LOC Guide Provides Clear Information and Guidance for LOCs
“LOCSU provides considerable guidance to individual LOCs on issues that arise on an ad hoc basis, often via email in direct response to queries. We recognised that there would be enormous value in drawing this guidance together in an accessible format to ensure effective knowledge-sharing and enable all LOCs to make use of it to answer common questions.
“As a result, this year LOCSU published the LOC Guide.
“The Guide is comprehensive, bringing together everything LOCs and their members need to know to act confidently and in accordance with best practices. This single point of reference simplifies and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of LOCs and the procedures they should follow to ensure effective operations.
“It was also important to recognise that the pandemic brought about changes to the ways LOCs operate, predominantly with the introduction of remote meetings, and guidance needed to be revised to reflect this.
“The guide includes template policies for everything from handling complaints and managing conflicts of interest to establishing a disaster recovery plan and complying with data protection and privacy regulations. This helps to improve consistency across LOCs and lifts the administrative burden associated with developing and managing policy documents.
“The guide was shared with all LOCs in a single document format in November and its contents are also available on the LOCSU website in chapter format. Producing the guide and updating advice to reflect the changing environment was a significant undertaking – ably led by LOCSU Information Officer Lisa Stonham – and we are confident that it will continue to deliver value and clarity for LOCs in future.”
Consultations
LOCSU responded to the following consultations during 2021-2022:
- NHS Provider Selection Regime
- Caldicott Principles
- HSC Committee Call for Evidence
- Royal College of Ophthalmologists Management of Angle-Closure Glaucoma
- DVLA Amending the Road Traffic Act 1988
- NHS Standard Contract 2022–23
- NHS National Tariff Consultation 2022–23
- EBI Cataract, Glaucoma and Diabetic Review
- NHS Provider Selection Regime – supplementary consultation
