Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the General Optical Council on the (a) attendance and (b) treatment of patients during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department and NHS England and Improvement have had discussions with the General Optical Council (GOC) on COVID-19 issues that affect optometry. As an independent regulator, advice to its registrants on professional responsibilities, is a matter for the GOC. GOC guidance, so far, to its registrants on COVID-19 is available at the following link:

https://www.optical.org/en/news_publications/Publications/joint-statement-and-guidance-on-coronavirus-covid19.cfm

The organisation and provision of National Health Service commissioned optical services during the pandemic is a matter for NHS England and NHS Improvement working with the Department. NHS England and NHS Improvement have now published guidance on the provision of out of hospital optometry services, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/04/C0127-optical-letter-1-april-2020.pdf