North Staffs/Stoke Acute Pathway - Change to Accreditation Requirements- 12/08/2015

Following discussions with Stoke and North Staffordshire CCGs, SASPEC is pleased to announce that the requirements for training and accreditation to the North Staffs / Stoke Acute pathway (soon to be renamed North Staffs / Stoke Primary Eyecare Assessment & Treatment Service [PEATS]) have been made significantly more straightforward.

In accordance with the national model MECS / PEARS pathway, training and accreditation for North Staffs / Stoke PEATS will now be overseen entirely by WOPEC.  It will simply require the successful completion of the LOCSU MECS/PEARS certificate, part 1 (distance learning exercises) and part 2 (OSCEs/practical assessment).  There is no longer a mandatory requirement to attend two clinical sessions with a consultant ophthalmologist.

Whilst SASPEC recognises the value of attending such clinical sessions, and encourages all Staffordshire optometrists to make their own arrangements to sit in with an ophthalmologist to enhance their experience, skills and knowledge from time to time, this will no longer be a pre-requisite for participation in the North Staffs / Stoke PEATS.  Therefore, any optometrists who have completed both parts 1 and 2 of the LOCSU MECS/PEARS certificate, but who are still waiting for news of hospital session availability, need not wait any longer.  In such cases, optometrists are invited to contact Staffordshire LOC secretary Alison Lowell, who will instruct you on what you need to do next in order to receive confirmation of approval for participation in North Staffs / Stoke PEATS.

Thank you for your interest, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Mark McCracken MCOptom DipTp(AS) DipTp(IP)

Clinical Governance and Performance Lead (PEATS/MECS)

Primary Eyecare (Shropshire & Staffordshire) Ltd [SASPEC]