Chris Bennett What is your background, education and working career?
Ian Humphreys I have a business degree and since graduating I have worked largely in membership and communications roles across a range of different sectors. Before joining the College eight years ago, I was head of marketing at the Finance and Leasing Association where I worked for five years. I first joined the College in 2008 as director of marketing and communications where my priority was to build upon the reputation of the College as the professional body for optometrists. When I became deputy chief executive in March 2014, I focused on developing an integrated approach across education, research and other functions within the College to meet the evolving requirements of our members. I took on the role of chief executive from January 1 this year.
CB How did you come to be in optics?
IH My role at the College was my first step into the world of optics. I had worked within member organisations for over 25 years, so another member organisation seemed like a natural progression. I was attracted to optometry because it’s a profession that can make a real difference to people’s lives – indeed I have personally benefited from its services since I was a child.
CB What changes do you hope to bring to the College?
IH Since I started working at the College, we have seen great changes in the way we operate. I am looking forward to leading the next phase in its development in which I want the College to be recognised as a contemporary, innovative and relevant professional body. I am very proud of the ethos and values of the College, which will continue to underpin what we do.
In what is a rapidly changing professional environment, I will be listening to members and looking to deliver increasing member value and support. It’s the members’ College – everything starts and ends with them – and this is something that I and my colleagues will never lose sight of.
In the immediate future, we will be introducing a number of new member benefits and there will be a much greater emphasis on digital media, including a new website, and I am particularly excited about the benefits this will bring.
CB What would you describe as the key role the College plays for the optical profession?
IH The College aims to support its members in all aspects of professional development throughout their careers, providing advice and guidance on professional conduct and standards and higher qualifications to enable them to best serve their patients. The key for us is to have support in place to equip optometrists in their current roles and to prepare them for the future.
We already provide lots of CET through regional events and conferences, our Optometry in Practice journal, and our work through the government-funded DOCET scheme, but we can add greater value by structuring our learning and development material into coherent and engaging learning packages. Some of this work has already started, but as we develop new materials, it will be member feedback that will drive its future development. The new College website will provide increased support for members who will be able to personalise its content to suit their clinical interests or career stage.
CB What are the biggest challenges facing optometry?
IH Optometry is currently in a period of significant change, and I intend to ensure that our members are best placed to make the most of all the opportunities that arise. Top of the priority list has to be current pressures on the NHS and future funding of the sector. As the NHS changes and an ageing population puts pressure on services, capacity issues in hospitals need to be addressed urgently, and optometrists can play a key role by taking part in new models of care.
We also know that technology will continue to disrupt the sector; we have changing demographics within the workforce, with greater numbers and more part-time and locum working; and increasing dominance of multiple practices. But, it’s important to remember that, as challenging as these issues are, with the right management and a willingness to adapt, they also present opportunities for the sector.
CB What attitudes would you like to change within the profession?
IH The College recently published results of the Optical Workforce Survey, developed in partnership with all the main sector stakeholders, which gave a good overall view of attitudes within the profession. I’m really pleased to see that 80% of optometrists rate their overall job satisfaction at five, six or seven on a scale of one to seven, so generally a good indication of a relatively happy workforce.
I am delighted that more optometrists are undertaking further study over and above their mandatory CET requirements. For example, increasing numbers are undertaking College higher qualifications in order to build their knowledge and confidence in specific clinical areas and taking advantage of opportunities to deliver community services. I would like to encourage all optometrists to think about how to build knowledge and skills relevant to their practice both formally and informally.
CB What attitudes would you like to change within the public?
IH Essentially we want the public to understand the importance of their sight and eye health. We’re always working to increase public awareness of optometry. At the heart of our communications, we endeavour to educate the public on the value of the MCOptom and FCOptom affixes. We do this through both traditional and social media. Last year alone, the College secured more than 900 pieces of media coverage across national, regional and consumer media outlets.
We also work to promote our policy and research work to members of the public and the profession, for example as part of our Focus on Falls initiative we provided a guide, patient checklist and a poster for use in members’ practices. The recent College-funded Nicer research published in January is focused on myopia prevalence in children in the UK and continues to be the largest longitudinal research undertaken in the UK to examine changes in children’s vision and cycloplegic refractive error over time.
CB How would you say the British public is served by the optometry profession in the UK compared to other countries?
IH The UK population is generally very well served by the optometry profession. The core scope of practice required for registration in the UK is among the highest in the world.
Despite this, we know that people living in the UK are still living with correctable refractive errors and there are still people losing their sight due to eye diseases which are treatable or could be managed to limit the extent or speed of vision loss. Unfortunately we do not really have the data that we need to fully understand the numbers of people who may be affected – the last UK-wide data on vision impairment from all causes was gathered in the 1960s. For this reason, the College is working with Vision 2020 and other partners in the sector to develop a significant project to gather up-to-date data on the prevalence of visual impairment across the UK.
CB What can the College do to raise the profile of optometry within government?
IH It is a priority for us to push optometry further up the government and NHS agendas, working together with other sector bodies. The College supports this through the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Eye health and Visual Impairment.
The College’s unique contribution, because of our commitment to high standards of patient care, is to reassure Government and other decision-makers about the quality of optometric practice.
Through research, the College is also developing the evidence base for the profession, including alternative models of care. For example, we are about to publish the most up-to-date and reliable research data about community eye health schemes – in terms of both their clinical efficacy and, importantly, their economic viability. This information will allow the sector to construct sound sustainable models for commissioners and provide clear evidence to support these discussions.
CB What one decision from government would improve the environment for optometry?
IH The improvement of information technology (IT) in eye care is essential to improving eye health and reducing sight loss. IT links between community optical practices and the rest of the NHS are crucial to improving care, outcomes and the NHS efficiency, not least through strengthening clinical performance through feedback. Improved IT will also enable the collection and effective use of data for epidemiological analysis, public health, service planning and research and will support patient information and participation.
CB What are the College’s greatest achievements over the past five years?
IH We’ve seen a huge development in our member offer over the past five years. I am particularly proud of our innovative events programme, which now provides members with 26 localised CET events, and a series of ambitious conferences including Optometry Tomorrow which, this year, attracted over 850 delegates.
We’ve also introduced and grown our patient information series, which is a very practical example of what the College does best – providing clinical support for members so that they can deliver the best service to their patients.
CB What do you hope will be the College’s greatest achievements in the next five years?
IH I believe that there is a critical role for the College in supporting our members’ career and professional development in this changing landscape. We will be offering relevant and timely structured provision, with greater emphasis on digital offering – light touch pieces to help boost and refresh skills quickly, substantial programmes designed to develop a deeper knowledge and more formal career support. Because this goes far beyond simply gaining CET points, we will be calling it CPD – continuing professional development. The key is to have support in place to equip optometrists for the future.
CB Would you urge all optometrists to join the College and if yes why?
IH Yes, absolutely. The College is the home of the profession. We are driven by the needs of every one of our members and are passionate about developing optometrists who can deliver high standards of eye care and make a difference for their patients every day.
College members have access to a growing range of exclusive benefits. In practical terms this means keeping them informed of the latest developments in eye care research, greater opportunities for CET-accredited learning, career development patient resources, clinical advice from our in-house experts and guidance for professional practice.
We want to lead the sector through these changing times and give others confidence in the professionalism and capability of optometrists, and are best placed to do that with the support of every UK practising optometrist. So I would encourage any optometrist who is not a College member to look again at what we offer.
Ian Humphreys wants the College to provide learning for the entire career of an optometrist