Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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91. To ask the Minister for Health the consideration that he and his Department have given to the requests by an organisation (details supplied) for a new contract to replace the existing 23-year-old contract for public eye-care and for the expansion of services accessed in the community. [26033/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I value the important role community optometrists play in our Health Service in the delivery of holistic patient care. In particular, I fully acknowledge that community optometrists have played a key role in responding to the health needs of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During COVID-19 optometrists have been responsive to the challenges presented and have developed guidelines and procedures to safely deliver patient care. I also recognise that optometrists have also played an important role in the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. 

Optometrists have the potential to play a greater role, and my officials are working with their counterparts in the HSE with a view to contracting more services from acute and community settings out to community optometrists.

The current contract with Optometrists dates back to 1999 and it is accepted that it is has not kept pace with developments that have taken place over the course of recent years including the recommendations from the 2017 Primary Care Eye Services Review Group Report, interdisciplinary collaboration and the skillset that optometrists have by virtue of their education and training.

I am fully committed to the development of community services which can facilitate expanded and more integrated provision of eye care in local communities. In this context, a contractual relationship between optometrists and the HSE which is modernised to emphasise a strengthened primary care system will be required.

Any publicly funded service expansion should address unmet public healthcare needs, improve access to existing public health services or provide better value for money or patient outcomes.

Subject to available resources, the 2022 priority for the HSE is to support the Primary Care Eye Teams in CHOs 6, 7 and 9 in rolling out a team model. In this context, multi-disciplinary staff, including optometrists, working within primary care eye teams will manage patients in order to reduce hospital waiting lists.