Bridging The Gap: The Case for a Universal Eye Care Record

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth), together with key partners across the profession, has called for national standardisation of electronic health records in eye care. It’s a call we fully support and one we’ve been building towards at Lutra Health.

Today, patient information in ophthalmology is scattered across hospital-specific EPRs, standalone ophthalmology systems, and community optometry software. Valuable data is locked away in silos. The result? Duplicated tests, delayed decisions, and patients moving through the system without their full story being visible to every clinician they see.

Ophthalmology's Unique Data Landscape

Eye care is unlike any other specialty. We generate large, high-resolution images, precise measurements, and structured data that need to be preserved in detail to have clinical value.

Many hospital ophthalmology departments use specialist EPRs that handle these complex datasets well, but they often don’t integrate with community optometry systems. That’s a problem in a specialty where many patients move between hospital and community throughout their care journey.

A glaucoma patient might start with a high-street optometrist, see a consultant in hospital for diagnosis, and then return to community follow-up. If those providers can’t share the same, real-time record, crucial information may be lost - and without a continuous, longitudinal view of the patient’s results, subtle signs of disease progression could be missed.

The Missed Opportunity

The RCOphth’s statement recognises that lack of interoperability between hospital and community is a major barrier to efficiency and patient safety. Standardised data fields, imaging formats, and consistent record structures could transform this.

Imagine:

• OCT scans captured in community, instantly available for hospital review
• Rich, structured referral data enabling rapid triage
• Shared care pathways where both optometrists and ophthalmologists contribute to and view the same patient record

This is how we unlock capacity in a pressured specialty – by letting information flow with the patient, rather than stopping at organisational boundaries.

How Lutra Health Fits In

At Lutra Health, we’ve built a universal shared record for eye care. Our platform:

• Enables standardised data flow and visibility across optometry and ophthalmology, ensuring measurements, diagnoses, and images are captured in consistent formats.
  
  
• Can integrate via API with existing hospital and community systems, connecting records without requiring wholesale replacement of EPRs.
  
  
• Supports the full patient journey – from first community contact through specialist treatment and back to shared follow-up.
  
  
• Cloud-based and accessible anywhere – no local software needed, so clinicians can log in securely from any location. If a patient moves to a different region, their complete longitudinal record is still instantly available.
  
  
• Built-in shared care and advice-and-guidance tools – enabling real-time collaboration between hospital specialists and community optometrists, reducing unnecessary referrals and improving continuity of care.
  
  
• Captures structured patient-reported data – including PROMs, PREMs, and surgical outcomes – enabling direct contribution to the National Ophthalmology Database (NOD) and supporting continuous service improvement.
  
  

We’re not asking providers to abandon systems they rely on. We’re providing the missing link – the bridge between hospital and community – so that everyone can work from the same, up-to-date information.

Real-World Impact

When information flows, care changes:

• Faster, smart referrals - complete clinical context means better triage and fewer unnecessary hospital visits.
  
  
• Community-led monitoring - stable glaucoma or post-op cataract patients can be followed-up in the community with specialist oversight, freeing hospital capacity. 
  
  
• Reduced duplication - no need to re-run tests just because they were done in a different setting.
  
  
• Better patient experience - fewer appointment, quicker answers and smoother care transactions.

Collaboration is the Key

Technology alone won’t solve this. Success will come from alignment – between standards bodies, hospital teams, community practices, and technology providers.

The RCOphth’s call is an invitation to collaborate. By combining nationally agreed data standards with interoperable platforms like Lutra Health, we can create a true universal eye care record.

One that respects the uniqueness of ophthalmology’s data, integrates with existing investments, and enables every clinician – wherever they work – to deliver safe, efficient, joined-up care.

Get in touch to learn how we’re supporting ICBs, provider collaboratives, and community optometry networks to deliver joined-up, modern eye care.