Students favour independent role in AIO poll

A poll of optometry students at Cardiff University has found three quarters hoped to spend their career in the independent sector.

Of 100 students asked where their career ambitions lay, a quarter saw their future with multiples, with the rest instead hoping to work in an independent practice.

The poll was conducted by the Association for Independent Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians (AIO).

AIO chairman Peter Warren said: 'Against a backdrop of concern about the future of independents this poll provides reassurance that there is a strong flow of newly qualified professionals that want to work in the independent sector.