South Warwickshire GP Federation has secured a two-year contract on behalf of Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Primary Care (IPC) to provide an Ophthalmology Coordination Service (OCS) single point of access (SPoA) across Coventry & Warwickshire and Hereford & Worcestershire ICBs. The new contract is one of the first joint procurements undertaken by the newly clustered ICBs and is being delivered in collaboration with primary care.
OCS SPoA gives patients greater choice for eye treatments and enables faster, more efficient referral management. The contract follows the success of the existing OCS in Coventry & Warwickshire which was introduced in 2024. Since launch, the OCS SPoA has handled over 45,000 referrals, enabling optometrists to refer patients for specialist care using the Eye Electronic Referral System (EeRS). GPs are no longer required to process most eye referrals, reducing unnecessary admin for practices.
Under the contract, a new OCS SPoA is being established for Hereford & Worcestershire, with shared management across both sites, providing an efficient and resilient service. Opticians across the cluster footprint will be able to upload secondary care referrals directly onto a digital referral system which will be administratively triaged by the OCS. Urgent referrals will be actioned within two working days, while routine referrals will be responded to within five working days. Eligible patients will be taken through screening questions, before being offered a choice of places to receive their treatment based on suitability, waiting times, and location. GP practices will receive a copy of their patients’ referrals for their records and for any follow-up purposes.
In Hereford & Worcestershire, IPC will be working with the ICB, local optometrists, the Local Optical Committees and local GP federations to establish the new pathway SPoA arrangements, and will provide support and resources to help opticians adapt to the new way of working. In Coventry & Warwickshire, the new contract maintains the existing service.
Rachael Danter, Executive Director of Strategic Commissioning for the Cluster said:
“We are pleased to mark an important milestone with the first contract delivered across our newly clustered ICBs.
“The expansion of the Ophthalmology Coordination Service across Coventry and Warwickshire and Herefordshire and Worcestershire demonstrates what can be achieved by working collaboratively with primary care across our shared footprint. It will help provide patients with greater choice and support a more efficient referral pathway.
“We look forward to continuing to work with our primary care partners to build on the success of the existing service and deliver improvements for patients across the cluster.”
Cristina Ramos, Chair of IPC and SWGP Federation said:
“We are delighted to have been awarded this contract, in recognition of our successful work to date in operating the OCS in Coventry & Warwickshire, and the robust proposal we put forward to create a coordinated offer across Hereford & Worcestershire. Both SWGP and our partner organisation, IPC, are rooted in primary care and focused on providing services which enhance outcomes for patients and maximise the quality and value the primary care sector provides. We look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues across the cluster to develop the OCS in the months ahead.”
The two year contract was awarded to SWGP Federation following a competitive tender process and includes an option to extend for a further two years.