PATIENTS needing eye care for minor or complex conditions will soon be treated by their local optician, rather than going to hospital.

As part of a new ophthalmology contract, the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals will pay high street opticians to carry out non-emergency treatments, with consultants offering support where needed.

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Opticians have started receiving extra training and it is hoped the new arrangement will be in place by next month, although details of which branches will join the scheme have yet to be confirmed.

The deal will mean patients with conditions such as glaucoma will receive more care from their optician.

David Noblett, secretary of East Lancashire’s Local Optical Committee, said opticians already provide some services for the NHS, but the new deal will see them ‘working much closer together’ with hospital consultants.

He added: “We’ve written to all of them to ask if they are interested in providing the services, but they will have to be accredited and have the right training and equipment.”

There had been fears the contract could bypass East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) altogether, but bosses said the new deal will provide an ‘integrated service’ and help free up hospital staff to treat patients with more serious problems.

It is not clear how much the deal is worth, but it will form part of a £10 million budget for ophthalmology care across Pennine Lancashire.

There had also been fears the trust could lose its musculoskeletal and chronic pain services to a private company, as in other areas, but ELHT has retained these contracts following a recommissioning process.

The new deal will see more care delivered at community hospitals and health centres, however, with Rossendale and Pendle piloting the new model of care.

Meanwhile, a contract for community-based dermatology services in East Lancashire, which has been provided by private firm About Health, looks set to be put out to tender by commissioners.

Kate Atkinson, associate director of service development at ELHT, told board members: “A key feature of the new model for ophthalmology will be for ELHT to sub-contract activity to local optometrists thus creating capacity within the hospital eye service. Local optometrists have the skills to provide eye care, under agreed protocol, for minor and complex eye conditions thus providing care closer to home.”