Therapeutics to be debated

With an independent prescribing course soon to be offered at Glasgow Caledonian University pending GOC approval, the next Eyecare 3000 meeting will debate whether optometrists should be allowed to prescribe therapeutics.

The debate will take place at the course in Glasgow which will run from January 18-19 2009. Participating will be Dr Ross Henderson, who practises in Perth and was the first Scottish optometrist to get his additional supply and supplementary prescribing qualifications, and Dr Lennox Webb, a consultant ophthalmologist in Glasgow, who has written a handbook on ocular emergencies.

Course organiser Dr Scott Mackie said: 'We are always looking at new teaching methods and thought a debating lecture would be a great forum to allow discussion of this topic at a time of great relevance for practitioners.'