The Next generation

HOW MUCH LONGER can the profession hold off from charging sensible fees for professional services rendered?

As the optometric landscape currently stands there is a clear wedge being driven between the provision of optometric and dispensing services and the sale of products. There are even websites advising customers how to get their professional services for free but then to go elsewhere to buy their products (www.moneysavingexpert.com).

It could hardly have come as a shock to optometrists and dispensing opticians that savvy high street retailers would move in on the optical retailing business. But the speed of recent events has left many flat-footed.

With confirmation this week that Next Directory has started selling prescription eyewear (See News) there are now few practices not under pressure.

optician first broke the Next story just a few short months ago but what a different retail environment it was. Tesco hadn't made its grand plans known, pharmacies were places to buy toilet rolls or cough sweets not contact lenses and Glasses Direct had barely registered on a search engine.

While eye care professionals have been wrestling with the intricacies and requirements of CET, optometric lists and the like, the world has moved on. Eye care practitioners still don't have sensible funds flowing down from the NHS for their clinical work while profit from product sales is being targeted by retailers on all sides.

By piling the cost of professional services onto the cost of products sold in practice, the optical business has created a very awkward position for itself. A position in which it cannot remain.