Bill Harvey: ...the world go around

As I write this, the change.org petition asking the GOC to reject the proposal to introduce an apprenticeship scheme for optometrist qualification (accessible at; http://chng.it/Kp7Sq58k) has been signed by over five-and-a-half thousand people. There is clearly some widespread concern about this being a step towards diluting the profession at a time when the importance of optometry in improving accessible healthcare in the community should be high on the agenda.

There is no doubt that the current university-based education has struggled to offer much in the way of patient interaction experience. But there are strict controls over the curricula, as well as stringent rules over teaching quality (see what has happened in Portsmouth). It is true that developing the opportunities for students to see patients during training would offer a much more rounded education, and relieve the onus upon a pre-reg year to pick up the pieces. In other clinical disciplines, this has involved close liaison between university and hospital and community practice. Surely this is not impossible in eye care.