Prepared for a fight

Emma White reports on the opening salvos in the profession's battle against the Health Improvement and Protection Bill

The profession must be united if it wants to halt potentially damaging  government proposals to reshape General Ophthalmic Services in England.

That was the message from last week's National Optometric Conference.

The event, which attracted more delegates than ever before, was staged in York and saw the formal launch of the campaign by the AOP, FODO and ABDO to resist measures in the Health Improvement and Protection Bill.

MPs have been enlisted to question the proposals and a roadshow to spread the word to practitioners and LOCs is planned. The dates and venues were revealed shortly after the conference.

AOP chairman Lynn Hansford said that proposals to cap the GOS budget, devolve it to PCTs and localise the commissioning of NHS sight tests 'flies in the face of everything the Government says about patient choice'. The Bill's proposals would do quite the opposite to the DoH's aim to increase the public's options, and, she feared, would actually 'drive out' choice.

'At the moment, optometry is the only true competitive contractor service,' she said. 'There are no restrictions on where we open a practice and what we do. The GOS system does not need a restriction on patient care and choice.'

Hansford said the campaign sought to secure 'proper dialogue' with government so that GOS gives patients the best care.

AOP chief executive Bob Hughes said the aim of the campaign was to win influential friends, and pointed to schemes such as Wales's PEARS as an example of how the profession can improve NHS services.

'We are striving for an outcome, whether it is something like we have in Wales or Scotland, that allows the profession to be released to use its talents to help patients,' he said.

'This is the start of a long campaign and we are meeting the minister, local lobbyists, attending party conferences and arranging to ask questions in Parliament, but that is only part of it.'

Hughes called on all practitioners to try to influence local opinion-formers and decision-makers by meeting their local MP to discuss the issues surrounding optometry at their practice.

The roadshows are designed to show what practitioners and LOCs can do to influence the process of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill and the GOS review.

In a question and answer session, panel member ABDO boss Tony Garrett said he was concerned about how optical funding could be wasted if the proposals go through.

'There are some PCTs who will handle GOS funding badly,' he predicted, 'and that's what bothers me.'

Another panel member, David Hewlett, the former DoH group head of ophthalmic services, who is now FODO executive director, questioned the sense in dividing GOS funds.

'It cannot be sensible to devolve a tiny budget of £300m to a local level,' he said.

Oxford-based optometrist David Spicer asked the panel what should be in 'the contingency plan'  should the Bill's clauses remain unchanged. 'We're not thinking about losing,' responded Hughes.

Earlier at the conference,  delegates heard the chief negotiator of the British Dental Association, Lester Ellman, advise professionals to be fearful of 'honey words' about the Government's new plans.

'Scream, scream, scream if the new laws are not what you want -  before it's too late,' he said.

In another speech, Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, also advised taking a proactive approach when dealing with the Government, and concentrating on 'crucial issues'.

Citing the example of the pharmaceutical contract, she said: 'We encouraged customers to send letters to their MPs which was incredibly effective. MPs received more letters about threats to pharmacy than they did about the Iraq war. They realised pharmacy had the capacity to fight and you can do the same.'