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The Single Point of Access (SPoA) system 
The service is a venture between the Royal Free London (RFL) ophthalmology team and hosted at Moorfields Eye Hospital in collaboration with North Central London, the Local Optical Committee Support Unit and NHS England. It accepts non-emergency referrals from optometrists, and ensures that those referrals get to a suitable ophthalmology provider as quickly as possible.
In the two years since the service started to be offered, it has processed over 29,000 referrals, reducing waiting times from 11 days to just two hours.
The system means community optometrists can route patients directly to their preferred hospital for management following triage by the team. It also includes an advice and guidance service, targeted optometrist education and referral feedback, and digital modelling to improve access to hospital resources.
As part of the judging process, Miss Radhika Rampat (pictured), consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the RFL, along with colleagues at Moorfields, presented to a panel of judges from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and executives and leadership from across the NHS.
Radhika said:
“This has been an incredible example of what a great collaboration looks like, and what we can achieve by considering the entire eye care pathway experience for all stakeholders involved including Optometrists, GPs, Ophthalmologists and most importantly, patients"
Peter Thomas (pictured above), executive director of digital discovery and chief clinical informatics officer at Moorfields, said:
"We've shown that by collaborating across trusts, professions, organisations and sectors we can drive real change and help so many patients to receive better, faster care.”
The team were presented with the award last week at Evolution in Battersea Park by Sam Roberts, chief executive at NICE and comedian Dara Ó’Briain, and over 1,000 people were in attendance.
The award comes in the same year that the team were highly commended for Best Use of Integrated Care and Partnership Working in Patient Safety category in the HSJ Patient Safety Awards.
