Isn't it time the optical profession was given the opportunity to have a big conversation with those acting on its behalf?
When Tony Blair launched his idea for a big conversation back in 2003 it was quickly consigned to the file marked 'spin'. This wasn't because it was a bad idea, on the contrary. It was because no one really expected it to happen.The underlying idea was, and remains, a good one. Let the people have a say about the creation of the rules they have to live by.
If the Letters pages and columns of Optician are anything to go by (see last week, this week and next) there is again clearly a break in communication between those practising in the optical profession and those who negotiate and those who set the rules.
Optics is a small profession which has more than its fair share of associations, federations and groupings.
The concept of opting out of NHS practice is already commonplace among practitioners. We stand on the threshold of changes which are held in contempt and feared by large sections of the retail optical community. We daily operate by rules which are misunderstood and misinterpreted. Are these things concomitant with good intra-professional communication?
Optician has happily acted as the forum of the profession for nearly 120 years, but it has to speak out when it sees the profession and its representatives failing to communicate.
