Wishful thinking?

Imagination of a high order is also required to give credence to recent correspondence advocating an increase in NHS sight testing fees at the expense of dispensing vouchers. (It takes little imagination to predict the likely response of the dispensing community to the resulting reduction in income.) One could, of course, implement a pricing system for private work on the lines visualised. The problem is that any explanation thereof would carry the clearest of implications that spectacles have been subjected to excessive profit margins! It is also difficult to comprehend the relevance of this controversial proposal to the payment of locum practitioners. There is no escaping the fact that we are concerned here, not with professional status and the like, but with humdrum contractual arrangements. The profession's NHS paymaster, the State, as custodian of public funds, is understandably concerned with achieving the best possible deal at the lowest possible price. It has also to be seen to be paying a fair rate for the job - no more and no less! This involves payment both for the services provided and for ancillary expenses and in respect of other relevant factors. It follows, therefore, that the case for increased payment for a unit of work is entirely dependent upon evidence that existing remuneration rates have been overtaken by events.