Moneo Writes

Over the holiday period Mrs Moneo insisted that I should take some time off work. The trouble with being let out of my dark room is that my mind turns to things that in my normal working day I don't have time to think about. Very soon I began thinking about what I would like to see happen this year in optometry.

As a practising clinician I would like, above all else, to see our professional bodies finally decide upon and publish what our government actually gets for its paltry GOS fee. This is something that seems to have eluded them over the years. As a result we now have the ridiculous state of affairs where some practices carry out cursory sight tests while others carry out detailed analytical eye examinations. This has led to 'clinical creep' over the years whereby we now carry out far more tests of greater complexity for an ever decreasing sum of money in real terms. A few years ago the South Derbyshire LOC agreed what became known as the 'South Derbyshire Protocol'. While this went some way to solving the eternal riddle it was never formally accepted by the professional bodies. Now that we have at least one optical chain offering free retinal photography under the guise of 'the latest optical technology' it has never been more important to agree nationally what the NHS can expect for its money and for the profession to stick to that. Without a clear definition of the content of this contract it will become increasingly difficult to negotiate with GP commissioning bodies in the future. By clearly defining what the NHS gets for its money the profession will lay down a marker that it is a serious deliverer of healthcare but that this delivery must be fairly funded.