Last week, members of the Scottish Parliament debated the future of Scotland’s NHS during a debate on Investing, Protecting and Renewing Scotland’s NHS.
While the debate covered a wide range of health and social care issues, several of the themes discussed will be familiar to community optometrists across Scotland. Improving access to care, shifting services closer to home, making better use of NHS capacity and supporting prevention all featured prominently throughout the discussion.
Speaking during the debate, Alison Thewliss MSP, Minister for Community Care, highlighted the importance of delivering more care within local communities:
“We must focus on the care that can be shifted into our communities, closer to the people who need it.”
The Minister went on to reference Scotland’s eye care model, noting:
“We are the only part of the UK to provide universal free eye examinations, which can identify a range of conditions. We have already built on that with our fantastic community glaucoma service…”
Eilidh Thomson, Chair of Optometry Scotland, said:
“It is encouraging to see community-based care and local access feature so prominently in discussions about the future of Scotland’s NHS. Community optometry has been delivering care closer to home for many years through NHS-funded eye examinations, urgent eye care and an expanding range of community services.”
“As the NHS continues to explore ways to improve access and make the best use of available capacity, community optometry is well placed to support those ambitions. Highly skilled clinicians are already delivering an increasing range of services within local communities, helping patients receive timely care while ensuring hospital services remain focused on those with the greatest clinical need.”
The comments reflects the important role that community optometry already plays within Scotland’s healthcare system.
Every day, community optometrists deliver NHS-funded eye examinations, provide urgent eye care, support the management of eye conditions and help patients access care within their local communities. Services such as Community Glaucoma Services demonstrate the potential for more care to be delivered within community settings, helping patients access care closer to home while supporting wider efforts to make best use of hospital capacity.
The debate also highlighted the importance of partnership working and what the Minister described as “whole-system solutions” to the challenges facing health and social care services. Community optometry is well placed to contribute to those solutions through established community-based services, strong local access and a highly skilled workforce.
In her closing remarks, Alison Thewliss again referenced community optometry as part of the wider direction of NHS reform:
“We are shifting the balance of care towards homes and communities, delivering hospital at home and new community optometry and audiology services.”
As Scotland continues to explore how more care can be delivered closer to home, community optometry is already demonstrating the benefits of accessible, community-based healthcare. The themes discussed in Parliament closely reflect the contribution that community optometry continues to make in supporting patients, improving access and helping deliver a sustainable NHS for the future.