CET funds unclaimed

Fewer than half of practitioners eligible to claim CET payments are doing so, figures from the Department of Health have revealed.

For the year 2006/07, the government paid out around £1.69m for CET undertaken in 2005/06 - with the payment previously standing at £425 per person. This equates to just under 4,000 claims lodged despite there being more than 11,000 optometrists registered with the GOC.

Both the GOC and the Association of Optometrists were unable to explain this apparent low level of claims but both urged practitioners to make full use of the funding available.

'We send out regular reminders to our members and keep them informed of any alterations to the scheme, but it really is up to the individual to fill out those forms,' an AOP spokesperson said.