Comment: Comparative advantage

Optometrists in the UK frustrated by low NHS remuneration and increasing competition on eyewear would not have found Monday's The Times particularly encouraging reading.

In an interview with Optos founder Douglas Anderson, UK OOs are compared with US counterparts, who are described as more receptive to Optomap as they're more geared to eye care as preventative medicine. It says US primary care OOs do a four-year postgraduate degree compared to three years as an undergraduate here and the referral system is more straightforward compared to the UK where 60 per cent of referrals are unnecessary.

Anderson believes his product should be part of every eye exam, although he concedes that NHS remuneration is low. One Optomap user, the College president, agrees there's a certain amount of cross subsidy and that there isn't a culture for charging for examinations, but by offering the test for £25, more than half of his patients accept. More importantly he has 'picked up 150 things he would have missed, 12 immediately life saving' in four years.