Moneo writes: Fees must come first

I share the concerns of Optician editor, Simon Jones, when, a couple of weeks ago, he raised the issue of our professional bodies urging practices to sign up for the Optometry First scheme.

For years I have campaigned for services traditionally delivered in secondary care to be available in a primary care setting. I have argued these services are well within the scope of our core competencies and I have designed systems for the delivery of these services as well as developed commissioning pathways with NHS commissioners to allow this to happen. For those reasons alone it will come as no surprise to learn that, in principle, I welcome these latest developments. There is, however, a slight irony in that the bodies now recommending involvement were less than willing to support these measures when I and others first proposed them.