Primary Care Post op Cataract Service

This notice is to provide confirmation of the award of a contract to Primary Eyecare Services Ltd by NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board. This service will be delivered in the West Essex 'place' area only and does not cover the whole of the Hertfordshire and West Essex. The Post-Op Cataract Service (POCS) is a service which manages Optometrists undertaking cataract follow-ups in the community, rather than within the Acute or Independent Sector. This contract award follows a very low value pilot contract (£5,150 excl. VAT) which ran between April 2022 to March 2023 and was extended until 30th September 2023. The evaluation of the pilot demonstrated that the service had met the agreed outcomes and KPIs moving follow up activity away from the acutes and into the community which achieved a better experience for patients through streamlining the pathways and at a lower cost. Primary Eyecare Services is a non-profit organisation of the Essex Local Ophthalmology Community (LOC). This means that the local ophthalmologists who would deliver this service are within the trade body of the Essex LOC. This model brings the additional benefits of expert clinical knowledge, advice and can assist with service commissioning and delivery. The pathway requires engagement with local optometrists and is crucial to delivering a community pathway which is achievable through the Essex LOC rather than contracting with local optometrists individually which may introduce fragmentation and risk achievement of the positive outcomes for patients. The contract will start on 1st October 2023 and will end on 31st March 2025 with the option to extend for a further 12 months to 31st March 2026. The value identified in this waiver is the total cumulative value inclusive of the option to extend and inclusive of VAT. The total value of the initial contract duration is £107,700 (exclusive of VAT. Inclusive of VAT this is £129,240). As this was an under threshold non-competitive award, the closing date identified in this Notice is the date on which the waiver was approved through ICB internal governance.