New partnership to support teams to move hospital eye care services into the community
A key challenge for health services is how to practically provide care closer to home rather than in an acute hospital, to help reduce waiting times and improve access and experience for patients.
As of early 2025, ophthalmology remains the busiest outpatient specialty in the NHS, providing specialist care for conditions affecting the eyes and vision.
These services include the diagnosis, treatment, and management of a wide range of eye disorders such as cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic eye disease, and infections. Long waits for outpatient procedures can lead to harm for patients and potentially permanently reduce a person’s quality of life.
Our new development programme will support local teams working across a neighbourhood, acute and ICS footprint to understand, plan and create the infrastructure and processes to move ophthalmology care closer to a home setting by July 2026.
Each team will focus on a chosen sub-specialty of ophthalmology, with the ultimate aim being to create and design a local transition plan for providing ophthalmology services closer to home, with some teams also expected to move onto the implementation stage.
The programme will run for eight months from December 2025 to July 2026, with up to six teams selected across England. Participating teams will take part in six structured virtual learning sessions and receive tailored coaching and expert input to help create their local transition plans.
Applications open on 8 October and close at midday on 10 November 2025.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, said:
“We know the position that services are in, with leaders having to juggle the competing priorities of recovery and reform. But finding space for that reform and transformation is critical. Much has been said about the left-shift and moving care closer to home, and the benefits are universally acknowledged. But for the NHS to be fit for the future, we now have to move from theory to practice. Those that can do this successfully will not only make a difference to patients within their own areas, but will serve as part of the vanguard for the change that we need to see nationally. I am proud that the NHS Confederation and our partners Primary Eyecare Services are taking the lead on supporting members to make that shift a reality through this new programme of work."
Dharmesh Patel, Chief Executive of Primary Eyecare Services, said:
“Eyecare and optometry services are a success story in the provision of open and accessible NHS-funded care. We are all familiar with how readily services are accessible through trusted opticians on our local highstreets, from small independent practices to national chains. Many of these services are highly specialised and already closely inform the diagnosis and management of serious conditions.
There is so much scope to build on this success by expanding the range of services available to include more of those normally located within hospitals. As members of the NHS Confederation through the Primary Care Network, we are delighted to be selected as an expert partner for this programme, using our expertise to bring together and support teams to design solutions for how this can be done in practice.”
Jen Morgan, System Wide Change at the Q Community, said:
“There are huge opportunities in moving care out of hospitals into the community, but it is only through examining the whole system involved in providing that care that we can move from ideas to successful practice. Through the Q community, we've supported and showcased impactful examples of solutions that are improving care while moving it closer to home. So we are delighted to bring our knowledge and experience to guiding the teams focused on critical ophthalmology services. Through our facilitation, coaching and learning support, we will together develop the strategies, operating models and culture for improvement that is vital to transform services for better patient outcomes, reduced inequalities and a sustainable NHS. We look forward to this learning journey.”
