Ear and eye health

The ICBs have made plans with your provider to ensure minimal disruption to your care, and the provider will write to you to advise you about your options. If your hearing condition doesn’t require a new hearing aid they can continue to review and support you. If your hearing does require a new hearing aid device, your care needs to be transferred, then you have the same choice of provider as any new patient accessing this service.

You do not necessarily need a new GP referral; once you have decided on which provider you wish to attend, your current provider can arrange that transfer and ensure your records and medical history is safely transferred.

You should not have to re-attend for a full assessment or be offered new hearing aids if your current hearing aid works fine. You should continue to be monitored annually unless there is a change in your hearing aid needs in which case you can request for a face-face or a telephone appointment.

We are pleased to confirm that if you are registered with a NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB practice, patients 18 and over can now access the community audiology services, rather than waiting until the age of 55.

The information below is based on eye care provider’s local data which is sent to NHS Birmingham and Solihull, and for the hospital trusts this data source has come from the electronic referral system. 

Patients registered at a GP practice in Birmingham and Solihull can access the community medical ophthalmology service, being provided by Health Harmonie from a range of location across the area:

• Birmingham South & West - Lordswood Medical Group, 54 Lordswood Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 9DB
• Birmingham East & North - Hawthorn Surgery, 331 Birmingham Road, Sutton Coldfield, B72 1DL
• Solihull & Central Birmingham - Sparkhill Primary Care Centre, 856 Stratford Rd, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 4BW
• Solihull (Monkspath Surgery) - 27 Farmhouse Way, Shirley, Solihull B90 4EH.

HealthHarmonie can see a range of eye conditions within the community. They will endeavor to see all patients within 14 days of referral and will offer the patient a choice of time and location that is convenient for them. If HealthHarmonie receives a referral for a patient that they are unable to see within the community, they will onward refer the patient to an appropriate provider within 24 hours of its receipt.

About the programme

The Eyecare Electronic Referral System (EeRS) is a referral, advice and guidance, and image-sharing system hosted by Cinapsis which is an I-Cloud based platform. It will connect primary care optometrists with NHS and Independent Sector providers of NHS specialist and hospital eyecare services.   
 
Most referrals to secondary care ophthalmology are made by primary care optometrists. Currently, the majority of these are sent via the patient’s GP and some by post or email. These routes can create additional administrative burden for referrers and GPs, and do not support image sharing or feedback to referrers. It is also difficult for patients and clinicians to monitor the status of the referral.   
  
The aim of the programme is to help address the challenges of current methods mentioned above and to provide a digital enabler to each ICB for wider eye care transformation by facilitating electronic referrals from community optometrists to secondary care. 
 
The Cinapsis EeRS System will be available to all optometrists, eye hospitals, acute NHS trusts (including large independent treatment providers) with eye departments and  community eye services who are providing enhanced NHS eye care services and referral refinement services responsible for eye care referrals across the Midlands region.

Deployment

Deployment of Cinapsis EeRS will be a staggered, phased approach that will be closely monitored throughout each process with agreed reporting processes to ensure clinical efficacy. Primary Care Optometry practices are encouraged to onboard with Cinapsis ready for the deployment roll out. 

What does this mean for GPs?

Currently, GPs receive a copy of an optometry referral, usually a GOS 18 through email or post or in some cases by hand via the patient. From EeRS deployment start date, practices will begin to see copies of referrals coming to you via Cinapsis. 

EeRS, much like the eRS referral platform that GP’s use, is the electronic platform for Primary Care Optometrists (the largest group of eye modality referrers) to refer digitally to secondary and third sector providers that will also provide the two-way communication for assurance of the patients referral and outcome.

What does this mean for Primary Care Optometrists?

All eyecare referrals and communications between the Primary Care Optometrist and provider will be managed electronically improving communication across eyecare pathways between all eyecare service providers, working together to improve patient care and improved working practices. The Cinapsis platform will allow you to have confirmation of the referral reducing anxiety that a referral may have not reach the intended destination but also the outcome letter of the patients attendance which is something that Optometrists have been anticipating for quite some time. The Cinapsis platform will also provide Optometrists the ability to add digital files and images.

What does this mean for patients?

When you visit your local Optometrist and you require a referral for your eye condition, the referral will reach the destination of choice (hospital eye services, other provider healthcare) electronically that is much faster than the current paper/email routes, reducing delays and can now be targeted to the correct eye condition pathway that you have been referred for.  

Current referral routes

Patients with a concern about their eyes or sight should contact an optometrist first. Optometrists offer NHS services for urgent eye problems, minor eye conditions, and sight testing. Optometrists will provide advice and minor treatment including referral to emergency, urgent and routine hospital or community ophthalmology services where needed.

Some treatments are available and these are free to those eligible for free prescriptions.

Patients can also access self-care advice together with advice from your optometrist or pharmacist about over the counter products.

Ask for help

If you are not sure about a referral please contact the referring optometrist in the first instance. Unresolved issues or incidents should be raised with nhsbsolicb.plannedcarebsol@nhs.net.

Patients registered at a GP practice in Birmingham and Solihull, Sandwell and West Birmingham, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton, can access CUES, being provided by Primary Eyecare Services Ltd.

Access to the service is restricted to telephone booking only

This is an NHS-funded service available for patients with recent onset and urgent eye symptoms. Typical presenting symptoms will be a red or painful eye, foreign body, sudden change in vision or flashes and floaters.

• The aim of the service is to provide safe consultations and care via remote or video consultation in order to minimise the need for patient travel and to reduce the risk of infection and transmission.
• Face to Face assessment only when needed.
• It is for people of all ages – adults and children
• Children under 16 years must be accompanied at their appointment by an adult if a face to face appointment is required.
• Patients will be referred to the new service by their GP, pharmacist or optician where appropriate
• Patients can self-refer into the service. Find a practice in Birmingham and Solihull and the surrounding areas, which is participating in CUES. 

• The practitioner manages the condition and offers the patient advice and/or prescribes/recommends medication. Management may include a minor clinical procedure e.g. foreign body removal. A remote follow-up consultation may be necessary.
• Referral to eye casualty at the local hospital eye service.
• The condition (and subsequent referral) is non-urgent and is safely delayed until following the pandemic. A further appointment is recommended e.g. 4-6 months.
• The practitioner has concerns that the patient may have a systemic conditionand makes a referral to their GP.
• Patient referred non-urgently for further investigation and/or treatment in line with local referral pathways and protocols. Managing the patient expectations relating to appointment availability in the current pandemic.
• Where appropriate patients given advice on self-care.

• Patient information
• Useful videos

• Age related macular degeneration leaflet
• Blepharitis leaflet
• Cataracts leaflet
• Children’s eye health leaflet
• Dry eye leaflet
• Flashes and floaters leaflet
• Glaucoma leaflet
• Meibomian gland dysfunction leaflet