More scope for negotiation

As our Department of Health workload increases beyond NHS tests into shared care and checking patient eligibility for NHS-funded treatment, perhaps as our 'major' employers the DoH should be paying us all pensions as they do others (dentists, consultants, etc). Come on optical negotiators, there is more than one way to skin the DoH cat and a few extra pence per test doesn't do it anymore. Start thinking in terms of pensions, equipment, provision, rates reductions for premises conducting NHS work etc. Alternatively the DoH could provide staff with a benefits desk in every optical outlet, or we could just start saying a collective 'no' much more often. Andrew Jarvis, Stalybridge, Cheshire