Moneo: The future for GOS

By the time this column is being read the general election will have taken place. Just what sort of government will be in place I cannot say. It may well be that things will be no clearer at the time of reading this! One thing is for sure five years from now optometry in these islands may well look very different from where it is today. It was clear at Optrafair that technology marches ever onwards. It is refreshing to see the new advances now available that are designed to assist optometrists in ever earlier diagnosis of eye disease. Of course the prices are somewhat mind boggling in some instances. One often heard phrase as I toured the stands was “I’m not sure my practice can afford this right now.” This is a phrase that has always amused me. I have yet to hear an optometrist worry as to whether their practice can afford spectacle frames and lenses. After all it’s the same outcome. The practice outlays money for something and then sells that item at a profit and makes money. The same with equipment. The practice buys a piece of machinery and then sells out “lots” of that equipment’s time at a profit. For some reason this is a concept that many people do not seem to grasp and hence deny themselves and their patient’s advances in healthcare.