Manslaughter charges

The comment article in Optician was indeed tragic reading for all those directly and indirectly concerned (Manslaughter rap changes profession). The editorial comment and headline suggested this case is likely to change the ‘optometry profession forever’. I wonder.

CET and record keeping was also reasonably mentioned. The ‘elephant in the room’ however was not: as the majority of optometrists are now employed or work for corporate chains, surely some responsibility should also be shared by them too? Appointment diaries, appointment times, diary schedules are not normally controlled by the optometrist in such stores, neither is the availability of support staff or clinical assistants if and when additional tests may be needed. In the majority of cases, the ‘performance’ of the clinician is based more on their ‘conversation rate’ over anything else.