It's timely that the spectre of deregulation in optics should emerge just as a Conservative administration, albeit a diluted one, takes office. True deregulation has been taking place (see news 26.03.10) in the Canadian province of British Columbia much to the dismay of the World Council of Optometry and others. As ever the UK has its own way of doing things.
It was a previous Tory administration that changed the rules for optics in the 1980s, but under New Labour the UK has undergone deregulation by stealth. An unfettered supply of optical products is now available on the web, central funding from the government has shrunk and GOC rules are routinely flouted.
The UK is also experiencing a low-level price war with Asda (see news) and Tesco placing almost definitely loss-leading offers before the public. This is being matched up and down the land by multiples and independents. Tesco now offers free eye tests for all and Asda free CL fitting. How long before others feel the need to match these too?
The availability of products to patients over the internet without the need to supply prescriptions or eye care professionals may be seen as an annoyance by many. But if the substitution of contact lenses is shrugged off and the supply of spectacles with guessed PDs allowed to become the norm, why should the government protect optometry? It would be easy for an ambitious civil servant to cite much of the above and make the point that there are no queues forming at A&E departments. Why not cut funding and deregulate? Music to the ears of a minister hungry for savings.