Hughes takes fight to MPs

Bob Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Optometrists, has declared he will be 'pushing the NHS postcode lottery big time' in the battle to win more realistic sight test remuneration from the government.

Hughes was speaking at the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians' annual meeting last week. By targeting MPs in areas such as Chepstow and the Forest of Dean and Berwick upon Tweed, he hopes political pressure can be brought to bear for the kinds of remuneration won for optometry in Wales and Scotland. But, he warned, winning such increases in England could be a slow process which could take years.