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What we delivered in 2025

Published on 26 January 2026

How we’re making a difference in eyecare across Scotland

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What is NSS Practitioner Services?

We support safe, effective, and accessible community eyecare for people across Scotland. With over 20 years of experience, we help ensure ophthalmic services are well managed, compliant, and improving over time. We work closely with practitioners, Health Boards, and the Scottish Government to support service delivery, improvement, and innovation. This includes supporting optometrists and managing payments for eye examinations, spectacles, contact lenses, and new eyecare services.

What we delivered in 2025 and what’s coming in 2026

We continued to deliver key services and improvements that support practitioners and strengthen service delivery. These included:

  • Payment delivery – Processed circa 2.93 million payments in 2025

  • Claim processing – Managed circa 2.97 million claims in 2025

  • Customer service support – Our Customer Services Team handled circa 8,450 calls and 5,470 email enquiries in 2025.

  • Claiming guidance – Our Contractor Finance Team supported practitioners and their staff by answering over 3,300 emails and providing guidance on all new and existing systems, as well as any changes introduced. This was on top of replying to around 14,000 payment adjustment queries. Top Tip: Always ensure the correct treatment or code is entered before submitting a claim, as missing or incorrect codes can delay processing and impact payment timelines.

  • Supporting regulatory change – Implemented updates to General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) policy and enhanced services, making this easier for practitioners by translating policy into action through practical processes, clear communications, and guidance.

  • National Primary Care Contractor Database (NPCCD) – Delivered secure data verification via the nDCVP portal, allowing practitioners to check and update their listing details; adopted by around one third of practitioners. Guidance on how to access NPCCD is available.

Alongside these, we delivered wider changes and new services that make care more accessible and processes more efficient.

Community Glaucoma Service (CGS)

The Community Glaucoma Service (CGS) supports the transfer of care of eligible patients with lower risk glaucoma and treated ocular hypertension from hospitals to locally accredited optometrists in the community (following clinical assessment and decision making by hospital consultants). This makes treatment easier to access and reduces hospital service pressure. It’s a collaboration between Scottish Government, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), NHS Education for Scotland, (NES), Health Boards, and accredited optometrists. Patients benefit from care closer to home, and hospitals can focus on more complex cases. The service will roll out nationwide by 2026.

General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) Specialist Supplementary Service

The GOS Specialist Supplementary Service aims to enhance eye care by allowing independent prescriber (IP) optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners (OMPs) to manage acute anterior eye conditions in the community. It offers similar benefits to CGS: care closer to home, and reduced hospital service pressure. Like CGS, it shifts treatment from hospitals to local optometrists. We support the national rollout by providing service, system, and payment support. This includes accurate claim processing, secure data handling, and translating national guidance into clear, workable processes. The interim launch was in August 2025, with full rollout on 19 January 2026.

Supporting Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

In 2025, we made CPD allowance claims easier by moving the claim form onto the eOphthalmic system. Practitioners can now submit claims securely online. We also shared clear guidance to help practitioners understand eligibility and steps, reducing follow-up and making the process simpler.

Community Eyecare Guidelines

At the request of Scottish Government, National Services Scotland (NSS) has taken overarching responsibility for the review of the Community Eyecare Guidelines (CEGs) on eyes.nhs.scot.

In line with the planned full implementation of the General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) Specialist Supplementary eye examination service, NSS worked with a group of key stakeholders across Scotland to review and update 14 of the Community Eyecare Guidelines and create supporting documentation, all of which are now available on eyes.nhs.scot.

NSS will continue to work with stakeholders across the nation to update all the remaining Community Eyecare Guidelines. There is a briefing page on eyes.nhs.scot, Recent updates to Eyecare Guidelines, to allow practitioners to keep up to date with changes as they happen. A reminder to practitioners to embrace a cautious approach for guidelines that have not yet been updated, as they may contain outdated advice and information.

CGS Clinical Governance Group

NSS lead and chair the CGS Clinical Governance Group, a group that has responsibility to create and implement a clinical governance framework to support the CGS. NSS work with stakeholders across the nation to consider each element of clinical governance required to support the service. This group has published guidance documents to support the service which can be found here, Clinical Governance. To date the group has published two guidance documents, one which supports the risk stratification and safe discharge of patients into the CGS and the other which provides guidance around the minimum data set for CGS assessments.

Our Approach

We listen to practitioner feedback and act on what we hear. Insight from surveys, day-to-day contact, and collaborative work helps shape our priorities.

We aim to:

Keep communication simple, clear, and timely

Monthly updates share policy changes, process updates, service improvements, digital tools, and good practice tips. We also publish an annual Focus communication with useful articles on existing processes and new developments.

Support continuous improvement

We work with Optometry Scotland and involve practitioners through working groups to shape future developments.

Share learning and good practice

In 2025, we participated in five in-person roadshows across Scotland and one virtual session, with over 900 attendees.

Together, this helps reduce barriers in day-to-day work and supports safe, consistent patient care.

Stay Connected

Customer Helpdesk Hours

  • Monday to Thursday: 08:30–16:30
  • Friday: 08:30–16:00

Tell us what you think

At any time, if you have suggestions or comments, please get in touch via the email above.