Comment: The problem of funding

If there is one topic guaranteed to create debate it is the issue of professional fees, state funding and voucher values. Optician is always keen to debate the pros and cons of the various parties' approaches to delivering eye care and to explore new ideas.

As businesses working within the private sector, optical practices are living in a drastically skewed world. As professional healthcare providers contracted to the NHS, their loyalties and morals are challenged on a daily basis and their funding inadequate in the extreme. Ken Pullum, in his Viewpoint article last week, indicated one possible route forward and Optician thanks him for sharing those views. Not surprisingly, he received brickbats and bouquets for his pains. It is fair to say that Ken did poke the AOP with a stick and the AOP has jumped (see Letters), but it was surprising in which direction. The letter asks what the government would get out of the proposals, but surely that whole point is that the government is getting too much already.