Simon Jones: In the public eye

News that optical practices are becoming the first port of call when members of the public experience an eye problem, was a nice way to fend off the post-holiday back-to-work blues. 

For the first time since the General Optical Council began its public perception research in 2015, optometrists have eked out a percentage advantage over GP practices. Admittedly, it’s a slender advantage of 3% (36% and 33% respectively), but it’s important to grab hold of these small wins. After all, only 19% said they’d go to an optometrist first in 2015. 

As deputy editor Mike Hale alluded to last week, there’s a lot of mysterious detail in statistics and how they’re collected. For instance, those who chose not to visit an optician first were asked to list the reasons for not doing so, but I think knowing the reasons why more people chose to visit an optical practice first would be equally revealing, if not more so.