Health services in Ilford – Framework Lead

The current contract for Health services in Ilford is projected to end on 21/1/2018 and may be available for re-tender. The current contract for Health services in Ilford included a new community ophthalmology service. This service will provide both community glaucoma and a community minor eye service across both Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham. The service will be jointly commissioned, with Redbridge CCG as the lead commissioner.The objectives of the procurement, is to To maximise patient access by locating a greater proportion of ophthalmology services in a community setting. The new service will be available five days a week aligned to patient need, plus at least one half day at weekends.The procurement aims to promote easy referral to the service by taking referrals from optometrists without the need for optometrist’s patients to be referred to their GP for onward referral. It also aims to ensure correct and speedy referral ensuring that patients are filtered to the correct subspecialty.National data forecasts a growing need for ophthalmology services. The current demand for ophthalmic services is high and it is anticipated that there will be a growing demand for eye care services over the next decade mainly due to demographic changes and wider trends in public health such as smoking and obesity. Estimates based on official population projections and epidemiological prevalence surveys predict that the number of cases of glaucoma in England and Wales will increase by a third by 2021 and then continue to rise at a similar pace to 2031.