Plymouth course wins provisional approval

Provisional approval has been granted by the General Optical Council (GOC) for the proposed optometry course at Plymouth University, but it has received a cool welcome from academia.

The decision by the GOC's education committee gives Plymouth approval to advertise the proposed course for expressions of interest from potential students and to recruit staff to support it. Following a visit the GOC's committee will then consider a possible start date. Student numbers will be linked to resources and levels of staff.

Professor David Thomson on behalf of the British Universities Committee of Optometry said: 'It is clear that with an ageing population, the demand for eye care services is likely to increase over the next few decades.' He said the exact demand would depend on the future role optometrists played, but university admissions would 'determine the manpower for the decades to come'.