Called Making Independence a Virtue, it is designed to highlight a number of new benefits available for its growing membership. This is made up of practices in the independent sector. 'We have a clear and demanding plan to unfold over the next three years designed to support the hard-pressed independent sector,' said chief executive Paul Surridge. 'It is imperative that independents know what they need to do to thrive, not just survive, in the future. Our focus will be on giving our members the confidence to grow their business profitably through a range of tangible initiatives.' A forecast for the future of independent optometry was given to Northern Ireland members by Paul Surridge at a regional meeting in Belfast last month. A presentation on the importance of measuring practice performance was given by psychologist Dr Andrew Jack.