Chris Bennett: Who’s looking out for your eyes?

Hairdressers refer more patients for eye cancers than optometrists, the NOC heard last week (In Focus page 6), so should the optical profession be doing something about that?

Delegates at the National Optical Conference are generally the type of practitioners that want to see the profession medicalised and retail optics become a fully integrated primary eye service. The cancer quote won’t have come as a surprise to many but the fact that hairdressers are responsible for more eye cancer referrals that optometrists has got to sting a bit.

Pretty much everyone has their hair cut, and on a fairly regular basis. Hairdressers are looking at the eye and its surroundings so will see a host of skin cancers. Are hairdressers paid to do this? No. Are there referral pathways between Supercuts and the local NHS clinical commissioning group? No. Is the NHS likely to pay hairdressers? No. They just do it.