Doctors fear 'unsafe prescribing'

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCO) and the British Medical Association (BMA) had recommended a lower level of responsibility for optometrists wanting to gain independent prescription rights, Optician has learnt.

As reported in Optician, (News, August 31), the Department of Health announced that optometrists would be able to train to get independent prescribing rights for any licensed medicine for ocular conditions affecting the eye and surrounding tissues.

The DoH also confirmed that optometrists must undertake further training before gaining independent prescribing rights and, just like other prescribers, they would only work with the conditions within their areas of expertise.

However, an RCO briefing note dated October 29 and posted on its website revealed that both the RCO and the BMA when approached for comment had specifically made a recommendation that optometrists should only be allowed to prescribe from a limited list for a limited range of eye conditions, and drugs such as glaucoma medications, topical steroids and antivirals should be excluded from this list.