Manufacturer to fund safety audit after NHSE funding stopped

The National Ophthalmology Database has been running since 2010 and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists credits it with helping improve patient safety over that period.

Alcon, which makes equipment for the sector, on Wednesday said it would spend £240,000 to keep the audit running for another three years.

Ophthalmology is one of the biggest elective specialties in the NHS, with taxpayers funding 410,000 cataract surgeries in England a year, costing around £450m.

The NOD dataset measures performance against two common complications of cataract surgery. The number of trusts and surgeons submitting their data is improving, but some outliers say there are problems with their data. Others have said they have made changes to their services as a result.

The data shows a 37 per cent decrease in procedures leading to a loss of visual acuity since 2010.

NHS England funding ceased in August this year.

In February, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists said NHSE’s approach to funding clinical audits was at odds with the ambitions in the long-term plan.

In a statement, it said: “NHS England’s current model of funding national audits is short-sighted. Funding is generally withdrawn after a contracted three years or more and if organisations are unable to secure further funding, all that data and learning is potentially lost.”

NHSE has been approached for comment.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists welcomed the move by Alcon, and another supplier, Bausch and Long, who are paying £10,000 towards the audit. The programme will continue as before with the new funding.

RCOphth president Mike Burdon said: “This investment by Alcon demonstrates how crucial partnerships between industry [and] the college are in sustaining projects that make a real difference.

“With NOD being at the forefront of reducing complications, achieving high data completeness and resulting in considerable savings for a stretched health service, contributions by Alcon and Bausch + Long will [allow] us to continue and improve an already high performing service.”

Alcon Eye Care Limited, was owned by Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis until it was publically-listed earlier this year. it had a turnover of £141m in its most recent annual accounts.