Misgivings over compulsory CET

There can be no doubt that I am a keen proponent of CET, having obtained several postgraduate certificates in recent years from City University. I enjoy studying the advances made in optometry, but I have grave misgivings about compulsion in the current economic climate. These misgivings about compulsory CET were further fuelled by your leader (June 30, 2000). What is the point of a government body demanding that an individual's skills be upgraded when the Government only wishes to purchase an eye examination to the standard set in 1948? Clinical governance in optometry is currently a nonsense; the NHS does not want to purchase an enhanced performance. The profession should not accept any legislative changes to bring about compulsory CET until the Government brings in legislative changes to the GOS that allow the eye examination to reflect the skills of the practitioners, with appropriate fees to match. There is little point in optometrists being compelled to learn to use stereo fundus lenses and binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy unless the GOS sight test accommodates the needs for these skills. The Opticians Act already severely restricts our trade, particularly by demanding that a copy of the prescription be handed to each patient irrespective of whether we are paid. We do not need more restrictions. The General Optical Council has always deliberately ignored the inadequate funding of eye examinations by successive governments, pretending that funding issues are beyond its remit. Without proper funding how does the GOC expect compulsory CET to work? If the NHS doesn't want to buy the skills, who pays? Let's keep CET voluntary until or unless the NHS is prepared to pay for an enhanced service. Jim Osborne Evesham, Worcestershire