A nationally consistent pathway enabling community optometrists to provide routine four-week post-operative cataract follow-up care for public hospital patients is set to begin rolling out across New Zealand.
The Eye Health National Clinical Network said the Community Optometrist Cataract Follow-up Pathway has been approved by Health New Zealand's national executive leadership team and is expected to transfer routine, uncomplicated four-week follow-up appointments from hospital ophthalmology clinics to community optometrists for up to 7,000 patients annually.
Health New Zealand said the initiative aims to improve access to follow-up care closer to home, increase service efficiency and release hospital capacity for higher-acuity care and long-waiting follow-up patients. The rollout is scheduled to begin with four early adopter districts during July and August before wider implementation across the country during the 2026/27 financial year.
A national contract is being developed by Health New Zealand's national planning, funding and outcomes team. Expressions of interest from community optometry practices closed on 1 July as this issue went to press.
Health NZ said some districts already contract cataract follow-up care to optometry practices, particularly in parts of Northland, Wairarapa and Southern districts. The new national pathway will supersede those arrangements.
