Introducing our new Optical Leads
20 June 2019
The new LOCSU Optical Lead team is now in place and able to support LOCs across a range of issues, from LOC specific questions and queries through to the facilitation of discussions with commissioners and wider stakeholders.
Click here to see the Optical Lead team.
The previous commissioning Lead team was focused, correctly, on the mechanics of the commissioning process and the establishment and support of Primary Eyecare Companies alongside supporting LOCs more generally. With the emergence of Primary Eyecare Services and other Primary Eyecare Companies LOCSU now has the opportunity to focus a team more fully and specifically on LOC needs as Primary Eyecare Companies find themselves more qualified and experienced to deal with the mechanics of procurement and service delivery.
The new Optical Lead team has been recruited from within the LOCs to ensure that the support LOC receive is both local and delivered by individuals with a local viewpoint. The Optical Leads will be able to supply advice and support to LOCs around areas such as process and succession planning as well as cementing LOC links to the national LOCSU team ensuring that LOCs are able to take full advantage of the training and support that team can offer.
As the NHS moves through the current restructuring and reorganisation there is clear requirement for LOCs to engage with the new and emerging organisations, such as Primary Care Networks, at a local level. Simultaneously there will be a need to engage with the forming Integrated Care Systems at a regional and in some cases on a cross-LOC basis. During the recent induction programme, the Optical Leads and wider LOCSU team have been prepared to support LOCs and networks of LOCs in this task.
Over the next 2 to 3 weeks all LOCs will be contacted by an Optical Lead to discuss any support needs individual LOCs require. The leads will support LOCs to perform a self-evaluation to help identify gaps in knowledge and local support needed. The process is not one size fits all and support and advice will be tailored to individual LOCs and individual needs.