An independent view

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Charmant

Charmant Europe is offering its customers a free graphic design service to support them during the Covid-19 crisis. The company has created various communications templates, such as displays, posters and stickers, that can be used free of charge. As an additional service, customers can personalise the materials, for example, by inserting a practice logo, adjusting layout size, or including individual Covid-19 collateral support hygiene rules. The company will provide layouts ready for use, and can arrange the production of bespoke elements at cost. Details can be found in the log-in area of the company’s website, or via the sales team.

21

Silhouette

Members with an interest in eco-eyewear might like a browse through Neubau Eyewear’s new Sustainability Guide, which provides a comprehensive insight into the brand’s eco credentials. Although just 0.5 per cent of worldwide plastics are made from plant-based sources, Neubau (a brand of Austrian manufacturer Silhouette) has used a bio-based polymer as the primary material in its eyewear production since 2017. Derived from the oil of castor beans, a natural and renewable source, Neubau has created its own material called NaturalPX, 65 per cent of which is made up of this oil.

Processes and products with accountability

As reported last month, Neubau has launched a 100 per cent bio-based sunglasses range, Cote du Soleil, alongside a brand new material –Natural3D. Whilst also using the oil extracted from castor oil beans, Neubau’s new frames are created using a 3D printing process. Using a highpowered laser, layers upon layers of powder from the castor oil are printed, forming the solid structure of the frames. This allows Neubau to produce frames waste-free, leaving a small ecological footprint. Find out more by downloading the guide at https://we.tl/t-7kvrM3KbEH

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Association of Optometrists

The Association of Optometrists (AOP) has launched a new AOP Infection control and prevention certificate to give members and patients confidence and reassurance when practices open. Registrants can also earn one CET point on successful completion. In the pre-recorded lecture, AOP clinical director, Dr Peter Hampson, explains how to protect staff and patients, looking at how the virus is spread and how to control this. After successfully completing a set of MCQs, members can download a certificate from MyAOP/CET, which can be personalised for display. The certificate is available to take on the Optometry Today website.

AN INDEPENDENT VIEW

Pulling together

By now we hope that all independents have had sight of the AIO Post-Covid-19 Manifesto and taken the opportunity to feed back on its contents. For once this is not only about independent practice, but rather the future of the optical profession.

As Scotland and Wales move forward with progressive national strategies for long-term eye health care, with community optometry playing a key and vital role in the provision of primary eye health care services, in England we continue to operate with a postcode lottery . The GOS system is defunct and needs a complete revamp. Eye health care needs to be administered nationally not locally and a clear long-term plan for community optometry to provide primary care services working alongside ophthalmology and hospital eye departments put in place. This is what the AIO Post-Covid-19 Manifesto is all about.

As online sales of eyewear continues to gather momentum, the multiples face a long-term challenge to the retail business model and a number of them have clearly stated their aim to expand their clinical offering. It is for this reason that the AIO has invited them to discuss the manifesto, alongside the regulatory and representative bodies. It is not about trying to marginalise the past efforts of the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee or the Optical Confederation, but rather an attempt to unify an historically divergent sector behind a single message to NHS England and the government.

The AIO is not looking for plaudits, but for a new future for both optometrists and dispensing opticians – and the practices and businesses that they run. If change cannot be achieved against the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis, there has to be a question over whether it ever will be. Read the AIO Post-Covid 19 Manifesto on the AIO website