Statistics released by the NHS this week show that optometrists in Great Britain are now performing fewer sight tests than at any point in the past 10 years.
The Sight Tests Volume and Workforce Survey, Great Britain report highlighted that on average optometrists carried out 35.5 eye examinations, compared to 40.3 in 2000-01.
One reason for this could lie in a significant increase in the number of practising optometrists. In 2005-06, there were 9,242 practising optometrists, 7.5 per cent higher than in 2003-04 and one third more than 1996-97 when there were 6,665.
Of the 9,242 practising, 6,079 were full-time the remaining third working part-time. The NHS information centre calculated a total of 7,695 full-time equivalent optometrists in practice in 2005-06. An average full-time optometrist worked 38 hours, 12 minutes, while a part-time employee worked 19 hours, 40 minutes.
The report also showed that of the 17.5 million sight tests performed in Great Britain in the year ending March 31, 5.5 million were conducted privately, a 5.2 per cent decrease on 2003-04. Similarly, the remaining 12 million funded by the NHS had increased 5 per cent.
This report, together with a second, General Ophthalmic Services: Statistical Bulletin - Ophthalmic Services for England, provide a raft of statistical data on the current state of the profession, a full report on which will appear next week.
Over the past 10 years, the number of sight tests funded by the state has increased by 52 per cent, domiciliary sight tests have grown by only 22 per cent. A huge leap in the former was caused in the main by the introduction of free sight test for the over-60s in 1999, but it is clear that the domiciliary sector is lagging behind current growth trends.
Three per cent of all sight tests are domiciliary visits. Primary Care Trusts paid for 294,000 in 2005-06, an increase of less than 1 per cent on the previous year.
Janie Rawlinson, chair of the joint optical bodies' Domiciliary Eyecare Committee, said: 'Despite the increase in the ageing population and at least one million housebound people in Great Britain (living at home or in residential care), it is disappointing to see that one of their most basic needs, eye care, is not being met.'