Letter: Put our skills to use

It is not surprising to see Bill Harvey attending the British Association of Retinal Screeners (BARS) conference in Leeds and finding he was a lonely ‘optometrist sole’ at the gathering.

Why have optometrists or pharmacists whose knowledge of eyes and medicine is the back-bone of diabetes prevention been sidelined?

We optometrists spent three years at university learning about eyes and spending our life time looking at every optic disc, retinal blood vessel, macula, etc, in the most miniscule of details.

But it seems the powers that be have ignored a group of highly skilled professionals who have been barred from undertaking the important task of retinal examination.