That was the year that was

A round-up of the major events in 2007 - a year marked by changes to professional regulation, devastating floods, attacks on the profession and still no CET funding for dispensing opticians

January

The year began with Rosie Varley, chairman of the General Optical Council being among a clutch of optical personnel who received recognition in the New Year Honours List. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her services to the NHS and healthcare through her work on the NHS appointments commission and her chairmanship of the GOC. There was also speculation that Hoya had set its sights on buying Pentax for a reported £390m in shares and suggestions that Essilor might acquire Cooper Companies for €2.1bn, which sparked a rise in Cooper's share price. Meanwhile, health minister Rosie Winterton announced a new toolkit for local NHS agencies to commission eye care services from primary suppliers such as high street opticians. ABDO vowed to fight for CET funding for DOs, after the Department of Health failed to address the issue in the review of NHS ophthalmic funding. Near the end of the month CIBA Vision conducted a voluntary recall of select lots of spherical Air Optix contact lenses.