New course awaits approval

The General Optical Council has still not yet granted provisional approval for the Hertfordshire MOptom programme.

Plans for the course emerged at the beginning of the year (News 17.01.14), but a spokesperson at the university said all enquiries about the course were being referred to the GOC.

A petition called Stop Hertfordshire has since attracted 2,697 supporters, but principal lecturers for the course were being recruited online – with reference to a February 2015 start date.

The Stop Hertfordshire petition argues that another course would result in the job market for optometrists becoming saturated.

Following university validation of the programme in April of this year, the GOC identified a series of actions that needed to be completed including a start date and cohort size for the first intake on the course.