Bill Harvey: ...and disregards the rest

So, the GOC agrees with the College of Optometrists that the ‘testing of sight must remain a protected function of the [Opticians] Act that can only be performed by an optometrist or registered medical practitioner.’ However, it has yet to decide on another point raised by the College, which stated ‘refraction should not be separated from the sight test’ and ‘should continue to be a single episode of care delivered on the same day, at the same location and by one individual.’

I agree with the first point and can think of many examples where the refractive outcome is, and should be, influenced by an understanding of the patient’s health status or even psychological status. Only last week, I saw an unusual pseudomyopia triggered by stress-induced accommodative spasm and a post-stroke patient whose nausea was linked with their prismatic diplopia management. You might argue these events are not commonplace, but they occur with sufficient frequency to require the input of someone with
the appropriate training and experience to decide on complexity.