Eye hospital group Optegra has appointed Melanie Andrew as its first NHS commissioning director, tasked with increasing the group’s partnership with NHS trusts around the UK.

Optegra provides NHS cataract care as well as age-related macular degeneration treatments and is soon to launch NHS glaucoma support. It has launched a number of NHS cataract clinics recently and now treats NHS patients from 25 locations.

Andrew has almost 25 years’ experience working across the independent sector and the NHS in a variety of roles. She spent more than six years at Medinet, leading insourcing providers.  She was responsible for strategic partnerships and business development, looking for longer-term contracts and partnerships with private sector organisations.

She has also worked as a healthcare consultant for Athenee, supporting care commissioning groups to redesign strategy and conduct cost-saving exercises. Before that she worked at Attain, where she rolled out a national strategy for the NHS Model of Care, working in partnership with NHS and local authorities. She was also part of the first wave of the independent sector supporting the NHS working for Netcare UK, and spent five years working for BMI Healthcare (now Circle) rolling out a national NHS strategy.

Andrew said: “My contribution to this vital work by Optegra is to build relationships and agree the right pathways of care, making us the partner of choice for ophthalmology services.  This includes having the correct contracts in place, growing the contracts we have by offering additional services and securing additional contracts in new locations. All of this helps ensure as many patients as possible have easy routes to essential treatments.”

Optegra UK’s managing director Mat Pickering commented: “This addition to our leadership team reflects the importance we place on our work with the NHS. This has grown substantially since pre-Covid years and we know there is so much opportunity to further support NHS patients across the country with timely, accessible ophthalmic treatment, in five-star facilities and with leading surgeons.

“Mel has a wealth of experience and is full of ideas on how we can continue to grow and develop this vital side of our business.”