Letter: A symptom of an industry in crisis

Many years ago, after pressure from various quarters, the GOC allowed ophthalmic opticians, as we were then called, to advertise their prices so as to press market forces onto the price of spectacles and services. Unfortunately they did not use this change to simultaneously disassociate the cost of spectacles from the cost of sight testing and in my opinion a golden opportunity was lost. Thus what feels like “the race to the bottom” began.

The industry was gradually squeezed from both sides with the GOC quite rightly requiring higher and higher standards while the sales side was chasing the bottom through increasingly aggressive competition. Equipment requirements are ever rising to keep pace with competitors and the public’s expectations, but it all needs paying for.