In Focus: GOC workplace concerns remain high

Optical professionals have voiced that challenging working conditions impacted job satisfaction levels and their ability to provide safe patient care, according to the optical regulator’s annual registrant workforce and perceptions survey 2024. 

With both job satisfaction lowered, at 58% this year compared to 62% in 2023, and job dissatisfaction heightened to 25% (up by 5% since 2023), the profession continues to struggle with the same problems of not feeling valued, a heavy workload, and poor salary. 

These negative working conditions were correlated closely with difficulties in providing sufficient care to patients, with respondents voicing the top six barriers as time pressures and insufficiently short testing times; volume of patients due to overbooking and ‘ghost clinics’; understaffing and inexperienced/underqualified staff; pressure from sales targets; NHS pressures and waiting lists; and insufficient NHS fees or GOS contracts.