Section: Legal

SOP 1.39: OCT

Covered in this SOP

• Guidance for Optical Colleagues

• Guidance for Resident & Locum Optometrists

• Guidance for Optical Managers

• Amending Optix Profile of Accredited Optometrists

• Patient OCT Criteria

• Clinical Responsibility and Referral Guidance

• Optometrist Accreditation Process

SOP Audience

Job Role Tick if applicable

Optical Colleague ✓
Optical Manager/Dispensing Optician ✓
Optometrist ✓
Optometrist Managers ✓
Contact Lens Opticians ✓
Locums ✓
Customer Trading Manager (CTM)
General Store Manager (GSM)

Policy

Colleagues completing OCT during pre-screening

This OCT SOP should be read alongside the pre-screening SOP and the guidance for Optical Colleagues within this.

Only Optical Colleagues who have undergone training on OCT can complete this test as part of pre-screening.

Optometrists using OCT

This OCT SOP should be read alongside the pre-screening SOP and the guidance for Optometrists within this.

Optometrists must use OCT in line with GOC Standard 6. Recognise and work within your limits of competence.

If an Optometrist has not completed the relevant OCT training and/or the self-declaration upload on Venloc, OCT must not be
used during this optometrist’s clinic.

Resident Optometrist;

Only fully OCT trained Optometrists can utilise OCT within their clinic.

All resident optometrists must complete the mandatory Asda OCT training in full.

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Upon completion of the Asda OCT training the Optometrist must complete an OCT self-declaration and upload to their Venloc
profile.

Locum Optometrists

Only fully OCT trained locum Optometrists can utilise OCT within their clinic.
Locum optometrists can self-declare their competency of using the Nidek OCT. They must do this by choosing 1 of 3 different
options;
1. Confirm that they have previously received training and/or education on OCT and have used the Nidek OCT before and
are therefore competent.
2. Confirm that they have previously received training and/or education on OCT but have only used other types of OCT
machine in the past (not Nidek model). If this is the case – the locum must review the Birmingham Optical Nidek videos
3. Confirm that they have completed the Asda OCT CET and training requirements in full as outlined in the Locum ASDA OCT
Training brief.

Amending Optix Profile of Optometrist once OCT trained

Once the Optometrist has completed their OCT training and uploaded the completed self-declaration to Venloc, the Optical
Manager should amend the Optometrists user profile in Optix. The suffix of ‘OCT’ should be added to the last name.

If there is no ‘OCT’ suffix to an optometrist name on Optix, OCT should not be used in this optometrist’s clinic.

Patient OCT criteria

All patients aged 18 years and over who enquire about booking a routine eye examination should be in the first instance offered
an eye examination with an OCT accredited optometrist;
• The benefits of OCT should be explained based on the OCT training the Optical Colleague has undertaken.
• Patients should be advised at the point of booking of the OCT fee.
• If a patient wishes to opt out of having OCT, this should be recorded on their Optix record in “Appointment Notes” and
the patient can be booked into a clinic of a non- accredited optometrist.
• If the patient enquires about booking an appointment due to symptoms outside of a routine eye examination
requirement, SOP 1.5 Triaging and Emergency advice should be referred to and followed.
• Under 18’s can have an OCT performed; if at the request of the patient/ parent/carer, the OCT fee will apply.

Effort should be made to complete the OCT during pre-screening to give the Optometrist the ability to review and discuss the
results with the patient during the eye examination.

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Patient declines paying for OCT but Optometrist believes clinically necessary

The discretion of offering a free OCT scan lies with the testing Optometrist, if the Optometrist deems OCT clinically necessary the
free OCT barcode should be utilised to ensure that this patient OCT episode is captured.

Patients Episodes Seen by a Non-OCT Accredited Optometrist

If a non-OCT accredited optometrist detects pathology that needs management, this patient should be managed in full by the
non-accredited optometrist based the information and examination outcome on the day, without the use of OCT.

A referral should not be made to an Asda OCT accredited optometrist as clinical responsibility must remain with the initial non-
accredited optometrist.

When to refer to an OCT accredited Optometrist.

There will be situations where a patient has their eye examination with a non-OCT accredited Optometrist and the following
occur;
1. The patient requests an OCT based on their previous knowledge of OCT/ has seen the OCT/Asda OCT
advertisement OR
2. The testing Optometrist recommends an OCT would be beneficial for the patient. This could be based on the
patient’s risk factors and aid to future care and monitoring but must not be to manage presenting
signs/symptoms from the original appointment (see above).

If any of the above two situations arise the non-OCT accredited Optometrist must explicitly refer to a fully trained OCT
Optometrist ensuring that the;
- Patient is added to the repeat test log
- Patient is booked into the OCT trained Optometrist clinic for an additional test (10 mins OCT appointment).
- The appointment availability is within a suitable period of time.
- This should be recorded within the notes section of the ‘summary’ page of the patients Optix record and should include
the reason why OCT has been scheduled

Once a patient has been referred to an accredited OCT optometrist, the clinical responsibility is transferred to the accredited
Optometrist to suitably manage and close this patient episode.

Back up and Data Storage

The OCT data is backed up using an external hard, backups are automatic and run through Navis, data is backed up each time a
scan is done.

The hard drive must never be removed from the computer.

Any faults with backup software or the hard drive should be reported to City as this is will need to be resolved by Birmingham
Optical.

Optometrist Accreditation Process

RESIDENT OPTOMETRIST

OCT in practice

Resident Optometrist to complete Asda OCT training.

Upon completion of the Asda OCT training the Optometrists’ complete the OCT self-declaration form (self-declaration
form included in the training brief).

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 OCT self-declaration added to the Optometrists Venloc profile, under accreditation title ‘OCT’.

LOCUM OPTOMETRIST

OCT in practice

Locum Optometrist to complete training where indicated in the Locum OCT Training Brief

Optometrists complete the OCT self-declaration form (available via Venloc)

OCT self-declaration added to the Optometrists Venloc profile, under accreditation title ‘OCT’.

OM Action when scheduling clinic on Optix

OM views Optometrists accreditations on Venloc to check for OCT competence

Go to Schedule Manager

For OCT; when hovering over the optometrist

column you’ll need to see- OCT

OM adds the suffix of ‘OCT’ on Optix to indicate whether OCT in use during an Optometrist clinic.

Colleagues check name of optometrist in clinic to determine if OCT competent

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References

SOP 1.1: Optical Law

SOP 1.9: Pre-screening
SOP 1.10: Eye Examination
SOP 1.11: Repeat and Additional Tests
SOP 1.16: Patient Refuses Pre-Screening or Eye Examination
OCT Self-Declaration: OneAsda> Work> Optical> Compliance
Venloc User Guide: OneAsda> Work> Optical> Compliance> Downloading and Adding Accreditation Certificates to
Venloc

Who owns the process?

Optical Compliance – opticalcomplianceuk@asda.co.uk

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