Work on a strategic plan for the eye care sector which has the backing of the main optical bodies and mirrors their aims has got under way following a meeting of members of Eyecare UK (E-UK).
The remit of E-UK is to bring together the leaders of the professions and the industry in the optical sector to agree and act on common strategies to address the challenges faced by the sector as whole.
During their latest meeting E-UK members agreed that the optical sector should work together and with wider partners to educate the public about eye health and eye care and to shape and change the future of community-based eye care provision.
Members also agreed to work together to ensure appropriate remuneration for NHS care and to ensure and support the skilled workforce. Plans were also drawn up to ensure there was appropriate and proportionate regulation in the optical sector.
The chief executives of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, the Association of Optometrists, the College of Optometrists, the GOC and the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians will now consider at their regular monthly meetings how best to take each of these themes forward to build on work already under way.
The optical bodies are already working with Vision 2020 on the UK Vision Strategy which came out of a recent conference convened by the RNIB. Vision 2020 is a global initiative, supported by the World Health Organisation, which aims to eliminate preventable blindness by the year 2020.
E-UK is chaired by Nick Parker, a retired senior corporate finance partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is currently a lay trustee of the College of Optometrists and an adviser to the Scottish Executive. He holds a number of non-executive directorships.
'We now have a clearer sense of priorities on which we can all work and bring our varied skills to bear to maximise the chances of success for the sector and for the patients we serve,' he said.