NHS South Yorkshire ICB Rotherham Place : Minor Eye Service

NHS South Yorkshire ICB (the ‘Authority'), formerly NHS Rotherham CCG, intends to extend the contract for the Rotherham Minor Eye Service (MES) without competition until 31 March 2024 to the incumbent providers as detailed below:

Connect Healthcare Rotherham CIC, Valley Health Centre, Saville Street, Dalton, Rotherham S65 3HD

The service provides triage and treatment to patients who are navigated from primary care, NHS 111 or self-referral into a telephone triage service to discuss their issue with an optometrist. If the patient requires a face-to-face appointment this would be provided within 3 days for a routine issue or within 24 hours if the issue was urgent.

The Authority is of the view that it is in the best interest of Rotherham residents to make a direct award of contract to Connect Healthcare Rotherham CIC for a further 12 months for the following reasons:

• The South Yorkshire Integrated Care System continues to go through a period of significant transition as a direct consequence of Covid-19 and due to legislation changes in the National Health Service

• The model delivered by the provider since June 2022 has seen increased activity through the service, with a reduction being seen in relation to referrals through to secondary care Ophthalmology services.

• A service change during this period is very likely to have significant negative impact on Elective Recovery due to increases in referrals, as well as increased numbers of patients reverting to accessing primary care (GP) services

• The prolonged impact of Covid 19 and subsequent service recovery efforts have prevented adequate collection of Outcomes Data to enable a thorough assessment of the service model.