Ophthalmology: GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report (December 2019)

Summary

Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) is designed to improve the quality of care within the NHS by reducing unwarranted variations. By tackling variations in the way services are delivered across the NHS, and by sharing best practice between trusts, GIRFT identifies changes that will help improve care and patient outcomes, as well as delivering efficiencies such as the reduction of unnecessary procedures and cost savings.

Content

This report seeks to address the challenge of rising demand for NHS ophthalmology services due to an ageing population. Ophthalmology provides over 7.5 million outpatient appointments a year, making it the the highest volume outpatient specialty in England. It also provides more than half a million surgical procedures, including the most common operation offered on the NHS - cataract surgery.

The GIRFT Ophthalmology report makes 22 recommendations that focus on:

• freeing up capacity so that more patients can be seen.
• reducing reliance on consultant care by making greater use of the wider team.
• reducing the risk of avoidable sight loss and protecting people's vision.

Watch a short video summary of the report