Always good to see our professional bodies making good use of the fees we pay. And, with the recent publication of two important surveys, it is very much a case of good news and bad news.
Firstly, good news from the GOC with the results of its Public Perceptions Research. It is not that long ago that the public viewed the role of the eye care professional (ECP) very much as a seller of spectacles. When I first started, there was the posh (ophthalmic) optician in the dark room and the glasses (dispensing) one out front.
If they found an eye problem during a ‘glasses check’, then they sent you to the GP, which is where you would have gone in the first place. Possibly to be given chloramphenicol, whatever the problem.
Greater awareness of ECPs’ capability, changes in Scotland, the rise of independent prescribing, underfunding of secondary care, Mecs/Pears schemes and the pandemic have all led to greater public awareness of the primary eye care sector.
Latest figures show that 77% of the population had a sight test in the past two years, and 36% would choose to go first to an ECP with an emergency eye problem, more than the 33% who would go to their GP. This changed priority has been a long time
coming.
Now the bad news. According to new research from the College of Optometrists, 21% of the public have not had a sight test for five or more years.
Fifty percent say the cost of living is having an impact on their eye care, with 22% delaying appointments for themselves and 21% for their children because of the worry of potential costs the visits might incur.
Hardly surprising when over half of the public were unaware of the availability of NHS funding for children’s eye care.