An independent view

Students at ABDO College will be learning all things optical in the Jai Kudo Optics lab, thanks to renewed sponsorship from the Millmead Optical Group, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Millmead CEO, James Conway, said: “The critical job performed by the College, along with the supportive and extremely James Conway dedicated staff, made the decision to sponsor the College an easy one. Having worked with them closely for many years, we are pleased to be able to extend our partnership for many years into the future.” Millmead will be updating many of the materials currently presented throughout the building, with new educational wall artwork and imagery, while new manufacturing techniques and product innovations will be highlighted with a focus on sustainability.

Vision Care for Homeless People (VCHP) is opening a new weekly clinic in Gloucester, with funding provided by Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and supported by the local optical committee. The ninth New Gloucester clinic opens VCHP clinic in England will be housed within the Rikenel Health Centre, which provides care for the city’s homeless community. Local optometrist Karen Gennard is the new clinic manager. She said: “Research by VCHP has found that around 70 per cent of homeless people need glasses for some aspect of their vision, and 10 per cent of patients seen are referred to hospital for other ocular conditions. We are expecting to be busy.” The Norville (20/20) lab is taking on the glazing work for the clinic, with additional supplies donated by Bondeye and Mainline. The clinic is now looking for volunteers and a team lead. Email karen. gennard@vchp.org.uk. Our photograph shows Karen (left) with Di Landon, a primary support worker at the health centre.

Dan Williams of Visualise Training and Consultancy has launched a three CET point e-learning version of his Seeing Beyond the Eyes CET Roadshow for dispensing opticians and optometrists. “Optical professionals are highly experienced in the anatomy of the eye and experts in lenses,” Dan said, “but there is a big knowledge gap in understanding visual impairment and how it affects people on a daily basis. The more optical professionals learn, the more people with sight loss will be empowered with the knowledge they need to move forward.” Visit https://visualise.thinkific.com for details.

As winter approaches and uncertainty as to the future impact of the pandemic comes to the fore once again, a number of difficult questions and decisions face the world of optics. First: do conferences and events proceed? Some that were scheduled for the last four months of the year have been cancelled while others will go ahead. There is no right or wrong answer to the conundrum that organisers find themselves in, and sometimes the attitude of the venue is an important influencer.

For delegates, they are faced with the same choice as the organisers, but at a personal level. For some, the imperative to compile CET points of the right competence and type is a heavy influence in the decision. Again, there is no right or wrong answer.

Then there is the question of whether all health practitioners, including optometrists and dispensing opticians, should be – or must be – fully vaccinated? The recent government consultation suggests it is a ‘must’ whilst the College of Optometrists and General Optical Council have maintained the guidance of ‘should’. Clearly, there are very strong arguments on both sides – and it is difficult to arrive at a right or wrong answer.

There are also the other big questions of the day, such as whether or not independents are well advised to ditch the NHS GOS contract and go fully private. Whilst for many practices it is simply not an option, for those that can it is a very difficult decision to make. At a different level is the conversation about consolidation of health regulators, which might see the GOC being absorbed into an ‘uber’ regulator. Again, there are many arguments for and against such a move.

One of the consequences of these difficult questions and decisions is the degree of uncertainty for everyone, which can be stressful and upsetting. No doubt many of these questions will be the subject of discussion at the AIO Conference on 9 and 10 October at Chesford Grange

Arguably, what is really important in these difficult times is that everyone is respectful of everyone else, regardless of their views and opinions.