Review of the year - 2005

January
The year begins with a husband and wife practice team who were caught up in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami telling their experiences... The AOP urges practitioners not to complete their GOC registration documents in a row over information disclosure... MPs' disagreements over cataract surgery figures set the tone for the coming General Election...

Belfast stages its first Eyecare 3000 event... An optometrist and his receptionist are accused of the murder of the optometrist's wife... ABDO sees no reason why its members should not complete their GOC renewal forms... Advanced Laser Eye Clinic is warned by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland about its advertising... Scotland's government meets with the profession to discuss the future of eye care north of the border...

February
Which? magazine attacks laser eye clinics' advice... The OptiMunich show finds the German market on the road to recovery... Optrafair organisers report the Birmingham show is almost fully booked with exhibitors for 2005... The GOC renewal form saga ends after a revised form is produced...

MPs call on a Channel Islands VAT loophole being used by opticians to be closed... The profession defends its pricing after a Daily Mail article claims high street outlets use massive mark-ups... The latest in gadgetry, the Thump sunglass-cum-MP3-player, is launched by Oakley... An 'opticians ebay', dedicated to be a marketplace for the profession, is launched by a Specsavers partner... MPs aim to tighten regulations on laser eye surgery...

March
Suppliers' price rises should be welcomed, Sight Care delegates hear... A West Midlands optometrist wins a court case against his lover who could have cost him 26,000... The wide-ranging changes to the Opticians Act are debated in the House of Commons before being passed into law...

Politician David Blunkett agrees to speak at the global Vision 2005 event to be held in London in April... Professional bodies meet with CET management company Vantage to discuss confusion over the online scheme... The shortlist for optician's 2005 awards is released... David Hewlett swaps his civil service role at the DoH's ophthalmic services unit for FODO where he is appointed as chief executive... In the run-up to the General Election, practitioners are given advice on how to influence MPs...

April
Fashion retailer Next denies it is about to move into prescription eyewear... At the Vision 2005 conference health minister Rosie Winterton extends optical pilot projects for the management of cataract, glaucoma, AMD and low vision... Charity RNIB warns that sight problems will double in the next two decades... Boots Opticians offers locums free CET...

Fully-booked Optrafair maintains visiting attendance figures of the previous show, and there is talk of a London-based event for 2006... Concern is raised at the show that practitioners will not be able to carry over more than six CET points from the first half of 2005... Impressionist Alistair MacGowan presents the optician awards, with a fire scare and three opera singing waiters among the surprises for the 400 guests... Tesco announces it is to double its opticians offer during the year...

May
An Optician survey discovers that internet retailing is driving down the price of contact lenses just when independent practitioners are facing higher wholesale costs... China's $1.34bn eyewear market will grow by 40 per cent by 2010 a report claims... The CET points wrangle is over, with the GOC allowing 24 general credits and 12 specialist credits to be carried over from 2004-2005...

Boots Opticians starts a drive to encourage professional staff to become store managers, but some call the offer a mixed blessing... A contact lens price war looms as supermarkets Asda and Tesco gear up to make big price cuts following new regulations... Laser eye surgery company Ultralase is sold to a Spanish cosmetics group...

June
Specsavers Opticians expands into the Norwegian optical market... The parents of murdered optometrist Giles Van Colle launch their High Court case against Hertfordshire Police, claiming the force did not protect their son... The BCLA's clinical conference and exhibition attracts record numbers of delegates to Brighton...

Dublin is the next new venue for the expanding Eyecare 3000 event... Optrafair organisers the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians decide that a London 2006 exhibition cannot be sustained by the current economic climate... The National Consumer Council applauds retail optics as 'an exemplar of a deregulated retail sector' bringing improved consumer choice and lower prices...