Simon Jones: The percentage game

Against the backdrop of spiraling inflation and energy cost crisis, the 2% increase in GOS fees and grants secured by the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) is maybe the most demoralising yet.

The reaction from the OFNC could have been the same as any other recent year. It was ‘acutely disappointed’ with the decision and noted how it had left the Department for Health and Social Care ‘in no doubt’ that the practitioners who had shown commitment to delivering health care throughout the pandemic would see the minuscule increase as a ‘blow’. Even the OFNC’s description of how practitioners should be feeling comes up short.