PES Cataract Provider Choice Tool - Guide for Practices and Practitioners

At Primary Eyecare Services (PES), we have developed a Cataract Provider Choice Tool to fully support a patient’s right to choice at the point of referral for cataract surgery, this tool will provide patients with up to date waiting times, geographical location, clinic types, CQC rating and complication rates. Click here for more information on the patients right to choice in the NHS.

Our ‘ Find a Hospital’ page (Our Cataract Provider Choice Tool) will show practitioners and patients:

Distance of Hospital or Treatment Centre from inserted postcode
Average waiting time for first outpatient appointment from referral
Average waiting time for surgery from referral
Type of cataract clinic eg. high volume low complexity and all cataract lists with exclusions highlighted
Posterior Capsular Rupture Complication Rating (From NOD Website)
Avoidance of Vision Loss Complication Rating (From NOD Website)
Care Quality Commission Overall Rating (From CQC Website)
Care Quality Commission Surgery Rating (From CQC Website)
Date the waiting times were last updated
A map with visual representation of provider locations

The Cataract Provider Choice Tool will be used as part of the PES Enhanced Cataract Referral Service or if commissioned with PES in the area, the Single Point of Access (SPoA) pathway.

Practitioner and Patient Facing Tool

The link to our ‘Find a Hospital' page is embedded into the Enhanced Cataract Referral Service module on OPERA to be used as part of the patient choice discussions during Enhanced Cataract Referral assessments. The link can be opened and used on the practitioners’ electronic device within the Enhanced Cataract Referral module or, the link to the provider choice tool on our website can be shared with the patient via text or email for them to view their options on their mobile device.

Accessing the tool

In your Enhanced Cataract Referral Assessment on OPERA, you will see the link to our Cataract Provider Choice Tool on the ‘Appointment Details’ page and the ‘Outcome Recording’ Page, as below.

Outside of an Enhanced Cataract Referral Assessment, you can also view the tool via our website at Find a Hospital – PES Cataract Provider Choice Tool

Using the tool

Firstly, to view providers, insert your postcode and select required type of clinic. The relevant closest providers to the inserted postcode will show first with the furthest being last. There is a listed view of the providers as well as a map view.

For further information on each provider, the user can;

Click the name of the ‘Hospital or Treatment Centre’. This will direct the user to either the NHS Page for that site or Homepage of Treatment Centre site.
Click the ‘Posterior Capsular Rupture Complication Rating’ or ‘Avoidance of Vision Loss Complication Rating’. This will direct the user to the providers page on the National Ophthalmology Database Audit (NOD) website.
Click the ‘Care Quality Commission Overall Rating’ or ‘Care Quality Commission Surgery Rating’. This will direct the user to the providers page on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website.

For information on what each section on the tool means, the user can;

Click the blue information button at the top right side of the tool
Scroll down on the page for a summary of each section

To view the map function, click the arrow at the bottom of the find a hospital section. This will take you to the next page of the tool where providers are shown on the map.

To view the provider’s name in the map, hover over the blue circle and the provider’s name will show.

Example of map view:

Issues or Error Messages

Should you encounter any issues with the tool, please contact a member of our team at data@primaryeyecare.co.uk.

Queries or Further Questions

If you have any further questions regarding the PES Cataract Provider Choice Tool, please reach out to your designated PES clinical lead.

Alternately, you can contact us at hello@referral.support or through the blue bubble on OPERA.