It seems the majority of the profession have reacted negatively to the concept of yet another University offering an optometry degree. We now know that the University of Hertfordshire has the go ahead from the General Optical Council to start the master in Optometry course in September and there has been the overall perception of inevitable further increase in numbers of optometrists chasing the same number of jobs with a resulting fall in salaries.
I have already raised in this column the fact that no one at present actually knows whether more optometrists are needed and work is being done to look at numbers required going forward. In all the discussions regarding university courses and manpower, the headline issue is always numbers and personally I suspect we can show that against the background of an ageing population, more optometrists are required. After all there are still areas of the country where there is a shortage.
A different question is what skills will be required in the optometric population going forward? Around the country most areas are now setting up enhanced schemes and I’m sure there will be opportunities to be involved in wider public health work, both of which require different skills
The current situation that many employers describe to me suggests that universities are not preparing students with the skills that are required for optometric practice both now and in the future. Following University, the student is only barely equipped in terms of communication and clinical skills to enter into practice and there is a great deal of input required from supervisors to get them to a required degree of competence. Having successfully completed the pre- registration year, the newly qualified optometrist is able to work in traditional high street practice offering sight tests, contact lenses and dispensing. However, to get involved in enhanced schemes, additional training and accreditation is often required, for instance through WOPEC or College diplomas.
Would the discussions about the new course reach a different conclusion if we knew that the university was going to look seriously at what skills are required from the optometric population going forward, and turn out a different type of optometrist? I can see a change in emphasis within the university course that would produce optometrists who are better equipped to fulfil a role where they are working in multi-disciplinary teams, perhaps with a clear focus on enhanced services work and public health issues. This would have advantages for members of the public as manpower to provide services in a primary care setting would be more readily available and these optometrists would not be competing for the traditional jobs on the high street.
All this may require a change in the curriculum and competencies required by our regulatory body and I hope the GOC would look at this with an open mind. So if we look at this from a different perspective another course may not feel quite so threatening.