Optics to blame for health bill exclusion

Optics itself was to blame for the exclusion of eye health from the public health white paper last December according to the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians (FODO) chairman Jayne Rawlinson.

In her address to members of FODO and the Association of Optometrists at the bodies' joint annual general meeting (AGM) in London on May 10, Rawlinson stated that the exclusion was 'our own fault because unlike other professions, we have not developed our cadre of public health specialists'.

As a result, she said, no specialists spoke up about the importance of eye health to the nations' overall health, independence and well-being and the cost-effectiveness of appropriate early intervention to prevent visual impairment. She added that this was also the case over the cost-effectiveness of appropriate early intervention to prevent visual impairment.