In response to COVID19, NHS England/Improvement (NHSE/I) set out that alongside routine General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) sight testing ceasing (and acknowledging that the remaining essential GOS is not an urgent or emergency service), urgent eye care would need to be commissioned and delivered through a contract with local commissioners [1].

In April 2020 the Royal College of Ophthalmologists [2] and the College of Optometrists [3] welcomed the COVID19 Urgent Eyecare Service (CUES) specification published by NHSE/I, affording clarity over arrangements enabling patients to access urgent eye care in the community, with only high-risk patients requiring referral to hospital ophthalmic emergency services. This single specification service is intended to be delivered via primary care optometrists acting as urgent eyecare hubs, supported by hospital ophthalmology, and commissioned locally by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

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