Professor Leon Davies FCOptom
Shaping the future of eye health care
We believe that optometrists have the necessary clinical skills and experience to ensure that patients have access to timely and effective eye care closer to home.
At the beginning of the College year, we launched our ambitious Workforce Vision to ensure that optometrists’ skills are recognised and constantly developed to meet new models of eye care and improve patient outcomes.
This includes the College-led Workforce Data Modelling project which is a major piece of work that will help decision-makers identify future local eye care needs and support evidence-based workforce planning and commissioning. The first phase, working with eye care professional groups and governments, will model the predicted eye care workforce and prevalence of 120 eye conditions over the next 5-10 years.
The reputation of our evidence-based clinical advice and guidance means that the College is regarded as a trusted voice for eye health care professionals and patients and we are increasingly called upon to inform and counsel government and national health services.
This year, we have been working with all four governments to raise the profile of our profession and ensure optometrists skills are better recognised and utilised across the UK.
Highlights of our work include providing policy expertise to MP Marsha de Cordova’s National Eye Health Strategy Bill, giving evidence to the House of Lords Committee on the Integration of Primary and Community Care, responding to the Welsh Government’s plans for their new GOS contract, and building our relationships with MPs and MSPs in advocating for the integration of services and highlighting the invaluable role that optometrists play.
We were pleased to see that the GOC incorporated many of our recommendations in the draft response to its call for evidence on the need for change to the Opticians Act (1989). These included our belief that refraction should not be separated from the sight test, and should be carried out by an optometrist or an ophthalmic medical practitioner.
We have also continued to work closely with partners in the sector to develop the new qualification process for optometry. This has included communicating the changes, developing a new work-based learning programme (called Clinical Learning in Practice - CLiP), and facilitating knowledge-led collaborations via SPOKE (Sector Partnership for Optical Knowledge and Education).
The College is shaping the future of eye care across the UK by ensuring that optometrists are at the heart of it. Every day, our members show that they are ready and able to play their part in new ways of delivering high quality eye care.
I am proud of what you have achieved and grateful for your support in helping us realise our vision for optometry.
Thank you.
