PSCE’s Upfront Payments Reconciliation Process, Covid Guidance, Research Project And FODO News

13 January 2022

We have 4 items for you today:

1. PSCE’s upfront payments reconciliation process
   ABDO have issued the following important information for all GOS contractors in England that have received a PCSE request to repay upfront GOS payments for 2021:
   

   Background

   Last year the rollout of new paper GOS forms led to a significant number of rejections due to challenges with implementation that placed a significant financial burden on practices. As a result, NHS England agreed to provide upfront average payments until most implementation issues were resolved.

   PCSE, on behalf of NHS England, is now in the process of reclaiming the upfront payments as most practices have successfully submitted the rejected paper claims. Practices should only be asked to repay an amount equal to the advance payment. The reclaim will be made via a deduction from monthly GOS payments in three equal amounts across January, February, and March.

   Reconciliation and reclaiming overpayments

   PCSE has now confirmed it has written to contractors with the goal of reconciling payments and reclaiming any overpaid sums.

   Unfortunately, the initial email correspondence sent on the 20th December 2021 contained corrupted data, this was rectified in a subsequent email on the 21nd December 2021. We have been assured that this should have solved most issues. However we are aware that some practices are still concerned that there are errors in the data.

   As a result, if after carefully reconciling the amount being reclaimed against the amount of advance that was provided, if a contractor feels the sum being reclaimed is incorrect or would like to better understand how PCSE derived the sum, they should contact PCSE via pcse.optomengagement@nhs.net

   If there is a significant discrepancy, difficulties with the payment schedule or PCSE fails to resolve the issue in a timely manner, contractors should contact their representative body which will escalate the concern to NHS England.

   ·       ABDO members email general@abdo.org.uk

   ·       AOP members email regulation@aop.org.uk

   ·       FODO members email membership@fodo.com or phone 020 7298 5151

   Reducing rejection rates for paper GOS submissions

   Submitting paper GOS forms correctly will help reduce the rate of rejected claims and therefore delayed payments and the impacts this has on practices. ABDO, AOP and FODO are working with NHS England to help better understand the root cause of ongoing high paper GOS rejection rates, with a view to publishing a guidance note to help contractors and PCSE minimise payment delays. If you are experiencing a high paper rejection rate, please contact your membership body to share your experience.

2. Covid Guidance from UKHSA and College FAQs.
   
   UKHSA has issued updated guidance on “COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients or residents in health and social care settings”, HERE.

   
   The College of Optometrists has also updated its FAQs on what to do if you are identified as a close contact with a Covid case or test positive. You will find the updates in the Business FAQs section under: “I have been identified as a contact of a Covid-19 case – what should I do? ” and “I have tested positive for Covid-19 – what should I do?”, HERE. You may have to scroll down the list to find these sections.

3. Invitation to participate a a research project
   An ophthalmology registrar at Nottingham university has asked us to forward the following:

   “The role of semantic memory in diagnostic accuracy among ophthalmologists and optometrists”
   Dear Colleagues,
   We are writing to you because – either as an optometrist or ophthalmologist, you play a vital role in the diagnosis of eye disease in the NHS.  Given the increasing demand on eye care services and greater services being undertaken in primary care, we aim to try and identify areas for potential training needs.
   
   
   Initiatives such as the Ophthalmic Common Clinical Competency Framework (OCCCF/OPT), aim to develop the multidisciplinary care team involved in providing ophthalmic care. Our aim in this research project is to try and aid these collaborative developments and similar shared care initiatives by investigating some of the underlying mechanisms involved in diagnosis.
   
   
   We are conducting an online questionnaire, lasting approximately 30 minutes, as part of a research study to increase our understanding of how knowledge in memory is related to diagnosis.
   
   
   This work is being undertaken as part of an NIHR Academic Fellowship. Your responses will be kept confidential and anonymous.
   
   
   There is no compensation for participating in this study, however the questionnaire has valuable clinical images that may be beneficial to your daily practise.  
   If you are willing to participate, please follow the link provided below. Please do not hesitate to contact us in the email below for further information regarding this work.
    
   https://nottinghampsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aW6WbKWMTop9wXQ
   
   
   Thank you,
   Ahmed Javed FRCOphth
   Ahmed.Javed@Nottingham.ac.uk
   Ophthalmology Registrar
   Academic Clinical Fellow in Medical Education
   University of Nottingham

4. FODO News
   Is HERE, including COVID updates, Consultation on statutory healthcare regulation, Self-assessment tax returns and NHSE’s 10 priorities for 2022-23.

Kind regards

Herts LOC