Quality in Optometry a toolkit for clinical governance in optometric practice

This site hosts two Clinical Governance toolkits (England and Wales) which have been developed jointly by AOP, FODO, ABDO and the College. The optical bodies believe these should become models for clinical governance in England and Wales.

These toolkits began life in booklet form - the English version was distributed with Optometry Today in early 2007 - together with a downloadable interactive file. Both of these have now been superseded by this website which has the most up to date changes to the optometry standards and is the only format in which the QiO information will be published.

Unlike so many previous models, these didn't start life as general practice or dental models! Although based on the NHS Standards for Better Health (England) and the Healthcare Standards for Wales, these were developed by and for optometry. The profession should own its own quality standards and these are models for Quality in Optometry. Everything is relevant to optometry and you will find that a great many of the core standards relate simply to complying with legislation, regulation or just plain good practice.

The Levels

The English level 1 has been overhauled so that it exactly mirrors the Framework for GOS Contract Compliance developed by NHS Primary Care Commissioning with input from the optical bodies, for use by Primary Care Trusts and their advisors. Thus Level 1 is Contract Compliance. Higher levels are clinical governance - Level 2 is targeted at enhanced services and Level 3 at advanced governance. For areas without enhanced services, Level 2 represents funded clinical governance. There is no longer a level 4.

Practitioners

A practitioner checklist has been added to the site. This provides links to the various requirements of working as an optometrist and will be of great help to practitioners. It also allows a statement of knowledge to be produced which will be useful for their contractor.

Audit

Three audits have been added to the site. Record keeping is an online version of the spreadsheets available in Level 1 Q13.5. Infection Control allows the contractor to mark off and create an Infection Control Statement. Finally, the Information Governance audit enables confirmation that a practice meets the appropriate legislative and regulatory standards for handling data.

To get started, see How to Use This Website or jump right into the Interactive Checklist.