NEW ELECTRONIC REFERRAL SERVICE FOR COMMUNITY OPTICIANS LAUNCHED
14 June 2024
At the beginning of May, a new system-wide electronic process supporting referrals to local eye care services in Coventry and Warwickshire launched with a phased roll out to community optician practices.
The Electronic eye Referral System (EeRS) is a secure, electronic system which allows community opticians to send referrals for patients who need further investigation or treatment for routine or urgent eye conditions to secondary eye care services e.g., Ophthalmology service providers, instead of sending a referral to a patient’s GP to be processed.
Once registered, opticians will be able to send their referrals via EeRS to a single point of access, the Coventry and Warwickshire Ophthalmology Co-ordination Service (OCS). The OCS will manage the incoming referrals from EeRS and contact patients to provide a choice of where they can access their treatment.
The new referral system and the OCS will bring significant benefits for patients and healthcare professionals across the system, including:
- Giving patients a choice where they can access treatment in line with Right Care, Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT)
- Enhanced patient safety and quality of care, with reduced risk of referral errors or delays
- Improved communications between primary and secondary care, with access to a patient’s referral status
- Allowing the referring Optometrist to attach diagnostic imaging and test results to a referral to support diagnosis without the need for additional scans or photos
An optometrist in Leamington Spa that has already begun using EeRS said:
“The team was originally apprehensive about the change over to the new portal, but within the first day we had excellent feedback as we found the new interface extremely easy to use.”
28 optician practices in the area are now using EeRS, with more practices due to adopt the system as part of phased roll out throughout June and early July.
Coventry and Warwickshire’s EeRS and OCS service referral model was developed by an Integrated Care Board (ICB) project team, along with the Chair and members of the Local Optometry Committee (LOC), Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit (CSU), EeRS software supplier Cinapsis and with support from NHS Midlands EeRS Implementation team.