Simon Jones: Don’t @ me

This week’s GOC clarification that the limitation placed on registrants back in March on only providing essential and urgent care was applied equally to NHS and privately provided care, will hopefully negate some of the sector’s ill feeling towards its regulators, associations and retailers.

It’s to the credit of the Association of Independent Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians that its intervention was the catalyst for clarity. Others have pointed the finger at each other, which isn’t escaping members of the
profession.

In nearly a decade of working on Optician, I haven’t seen the sector so galvanised and engaged in mobilising change. The past three months have been incredibly stressful for practice owners, employees – all of us really – so it’s understandably an emotive time.