Extended Services in Ashton, Leigh & Wigan

Urgent Eye Conditions Service (CUES)

If your practice does not participate in this service, then eye problems such as:

• • Red or painful eye or eyelids
  • Recently occurring flashes and floaters
  • Recent and sudden loss of vision
  • Foreign body in the eye

should be referred to one of the CUES accredited optometry practices.

Full details and a practice search are available on the Primary Eyecare Services website CUES page here

Cataract Referrals

All cataracts referrals should be directed through the enhanced service pathway via Opera to ensure that the patient is counselled on the risks and benefits, meets the referral criteria and requires and wants surgery. If you do not participate in the service you can refer through Opera to a practice that does by choosing "primary care" as the referral type. If you are out of the area and do not have acces to Opera for referrals then you can find participating practices using the link below. Ask the patient where they wish to go and ensure they know. Use a referral letter and provide full details as you would for a GP referral

A list of practices is available here:

Learn More Find a Practice

Glaucoma Pathways

Wigan Glaucoma Services – Quick Reference guide can be found here:

Learn More Wigan Glaucoma Services

For more information on providing any extended services please email secretary@alwloc.co.uk - Send Mail

In cases of raised IOP and/or suspicious visual fields in the absence of any other signs of glaucoma the pressures or visual fields should be repeated on one or two occasions using Goldmann or Perkins tonometry or full threshold visual field testing as per the extended service provided by Primary Eyecare Services. The results are reported, and fees claimed, via the Opera online IT system.

If the pressure is still raised after the 2nd repeat, or the visual field shows repeatable glaucoma suspicion, then the patient will be referred to the HES glaucoma clinic.

If you have a patient with raised pressure or suspect visual fields, and you do not take part in the extended service, you must refer them to a GERS optometrist for further assessment. Follow the referral information for GERS detailed here.

The Primary Eycare Pathways & Protocols document can be found here:

This Glaucoma Enhanced Referral Service (GERS) is for patients with signs suspicious of glaucoma who aren’t suitable for a Glaucoma Repeat Reading Service (GRRS) if commissioned locally

GERS now uses a Single Point of Access (SPoA) for patients. Greater Manchester patients eligible for GERS should be be referred to the PES GERS single point of access (SPoA) and NOT directly to a GERS practice. You should use the: "PRIMARY EYECARE SERVICES – GLAUCOMA ENHANCED REFERRAL SERVICE (GERS)" option on Opera’s GOS18 module.

Remember that hospitals may reject referrals if they have not come through the correct pathway.

Patients from outside this area should be referred according to their own area’s protocol.

Practices outside this area should refer this area's patients to GERS

This service is for patient who have been under the care of the hospital and have been determined by the hospital to be low risk and stable and suitable for monitoring in primary care optometry.

Learning Disabilities

For information on the Easy Eye Care Service Learning Disabilities pathway, see the Primary Eyecare website here:

Learn More Easy Eye Care Learning Disabilities Service: