Listed as missing
Can you be sure that you are going to be paid at the end of this month?
It is clear from talking to agencies who pay optometrists for carrying out NHS sight tests that there are still a lot of optometrists or employers who are not correctly on an ophthalmic list.
This presents a problem for these agencies and PCTs generally. Quite simply it is not legal for them to pay for sight tests performed by those not correctly listed. In fact it is actually fraud for people who are not correctly listed to attempt to claim payment for tests as they are not NHS tests at all. It will only be as August unfolds and forms start to be submitted that the extent of the problem will be revealed.
One of the largest groups who will experience a problem is the newly qualified optometrists from this summer. In some areas of the country it is being reported that not one single member of this group has applied to go on the new lists. I spoke to one of these people last month and was told that, most probably, the supervisor would continue to sign the NHS forms even though the person was now registered in their own right.
Another concern is the seeming lack of awareness and even total uninterest from many local optometric committees. Once again, having spoken to payment agencies it would appear that on many occasions the LOC members are the ones who either have not applied to go on the new lists or have got their application wrong!
There is no excuse for this. Whether we agree with this whole exercise or not, it has been done, and very much like those establishments who did not apply in time for a new licence for serving alcohol or food after 11pm at night there are going to be many who are going to find that they have left their registration too late to comply.
It is highly likely that the agencies who pay optometrists will take a very strict line on this. After all, to pay out public money illegally is just not an option for them. Those that are not correctly listed now will have to apply as a new registrant. This could take up to three weeks or even longer to process. In that time those people will not be able to carry out any NHS work and it would appear PCTs will be keeping quite a close eye on this activity.
It is worrying that, seemingly, the majority of a profession seem to have such a lack of interest in legislation that affects their right to work. If this continues, optometrists could be in for a nasty shock in the coming weeks as talks unfold over the future of NHS work.
Lost opportunity
I would like to thank the writer who wrote in after an earlier article to tell me that optometrists could have had an NHS pension but our negotiators had, at the start of the NHS, rejected the opportunity. Not only was this a major error but it shows that it is not always wise to let our negotiators have a free hand on determining our future. Ignore what is happening at national level at your peril!