Bill Harvey: In search of space

One positive outcome of the current situation will be the development of the role of the eye care professional.

It is over 20 years since I started working for this prestigious publication. I remember how sensitive I was initially to criticism received over the new-fangled email medium. A common complaint was that we did not publish enough on spectacles: ‘If I had wanted to manage eye disease, I would have studied medicine.’ And if we published a series on dispensing or lenses, I took flak from more medically-minded colleagues: ‘Refraction can be done by a technician; why do we need another article on dispensing?’ I would always argue a place for both; indeed, I would go further and suggest that if we really need to help people with their eyesight, we need good knowledge of a much wider skillset, embracing such varied disciplines as psychology, optics theory, pharmacology and IT to name a few.