SPECSAVERS would be signed up to help the NHS provide treatment for 600,000 eye patients under Labour plans.
The High Street chain has held talks with the party as it plots to cut health service waiting times within five years.
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The retailer is being lined up to carry out procedures such as glaucoma and cataract checks for the health service.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “We’ve got to think radically. It’s not just about what goes on in hospitals.
“If you take eye care, for example, there are 600,000 patients waiting.
“I’ve been talking to people like Specsavers who have the staff and kit.
“They are ready to help with scans, check-ups and monitoring.”
Proposals to use the opticians would free up specialists in hospitals to treat more serious cases and therefore provide better value for money for taxpayers.
Mr Streeting told The Sun back in January that the NHS needed reform more than it needed money.
Specsavers clinical services director Giles Edmonds said: “Using this highly qualified workforce to its full extent will free up capacity within the health service in return for very little cost and an overwhelming improvement in patient health outcomes and quality of life.”