Professor calls for unity over therapeutics

This was the conclusion of Professor Roger Buckley's opening lecture at the College of Optometrists' conference in York last weekend. In a presentation on therapeutics of external eye disease, Professor Buckley, consultant ophthalmologist at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital, said optometrists' involvement in primary care was 'a logical and irresistable development' which should be brought about through cooperation between the two professions, not for personal or professional advancement but in the interests of their patients. Ophthalmology and optometry were, he said, mutually compatible and much more than the sum of their parts. But Professor Buckley, who was recently appointed Professor of Ocular Medicine at City University's optometry department, warned that certain areas, such as the use of steroid therapy, would remain the preserve of ophthalmologists, at least until appropriate training was available. 'There are legal implications to drugs with which side-effects are common and certain knowledge of the systemic, as well as ocular effects is needed,' Professor Buckley said. The skill in therapeutic use was knowing when to start and stop treatment. He added that the primary care clinician who determined the nature of the problem and decided how it should be managed was not always the person who treated the patient. Professor Buckley also urged the inclusion of community pharmacists in discussions on primary eye care. In view of the number of consultations with pharmacists for simple eye problems, he said it would be 'absolute madness' to exclude them.