Tories hear eye health message

The Eye Health Alliance hosted a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool earlier this week as part of an initiative to help raise the profile of eye care among politicians. The Alliance hosted a similar event at last week's Labour Party conference.

The event, 'Diversity in commissioning - opportunity or a choice too far?' was organised by the Alliance, which is a member of the Health Hotel - a collaborative venture of 36 health organisations working to put on a series of health policy events at each of the political party conferences.

Guest speakers at the event included Stephen Dorrell MP, who chaired the Conservative policy group on health and social policy, David Pink, chief executive of the Long Term Conditions Alliance, and Dr Nal Beaty of the CBI. The meeting was chaired by Professor Nick Bosanquet who has written several books and reports on optics.