Public engagement

Health outside of hospitals has become a mantra for New Labour of late. Telephone diagnosis, roving paramedics and mobile cataract units have all been adopted or mooted, but the intensity on this issue is about to rise.

Ideas are being sought to feed into a major report due at the end of the year to be called Health Outside Hospitals. Regardless of the motives for such moves it seems the Government is determined to take health out of hospitals and put it back into the community. This is good news for optometry which has singularly excelled in the delivery of primary healthcare services in the high street.

Last week Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt announced another consultation exercise designed to come up with more ideas on the future shape of health care delivery.

Addressing the 'Britain speaks - effective public engagement and better decision making' conference in London she said primary healthcare had to meet the changing expectations of the public. A DoH press release said a programme of public consultation would collect the views of thousands of ordinary people at meetings this September. It would be beyond anything attempted before, continued the release. There are clearly issues here for optometry, not least because this new push makes special mention of education with regard to long-term conditions such as diabetes.

Recent research carried out for the College of Optometrists clearly shows the high regard in which the public holds optometry and this should be used to optometry's advantage. Eye care practitioners have the summer months in which to capture their patients as ambassadors for optometry so those positive message are sent to the Government.

There is no question that optometry has a bigger role to play in primary healthcare provision. There is also no question that practitioners have the skills and the premises the Government would like to see utilised. But the funding must follow.