More than 1,800 Specsavers optometrists in England have now achieved the WOPEC (Wales Optometry Postgraduate Education Centre) Level 2 accreditation in glaucoma as part of the multiple’s focus on training and accreditation for enhanced services.
The company said the glaucoma programme had been designed to upskill optometrists, reinforce their skills in detecting glaucoma and monitoring the signs of its progression. A further 650 optometrists have gained Level 1 accreditation.
The 1800th accreditation was reached at an assessment event at Specsavers Wembley (pictured).
Paul Morris, Specsavers director of professional advancement said: ‘This is a fantastic achievement for all our practitioners who have been studying online, practising in store, mentoring colleagues, attending refresher workshops – and of course completing and passing the practical assessments, which can be a real challenge to pass first time.
‘Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness, so anything that can help with its early detection and diagnosis has to be a good thing. We’ve already seen the value of this additional training, with two cases of previously undetected primary angle-closure glaucoma spotted during the assessment events themselves!’