“Ensuring that High Street opticians everywhere in the country can provide the public with a wider range of prescription medicines in the community is essential – we have to stop forcing
people to take on the 8am dash for the GP” – Adam Sampson, CEO of Association of Optometrists
The Association of Optometrists (AOP) has welcomed a new consultation launched by the Department of Health and Social Care. Under new proposals, optometrists and contact lens opticians will
be able to prescribe more medications, making it easier for patients to get treatment, and reducing pressure on GPs and hospitals.
Adam Sampson, CEO of the AOP said: “This Government announcement is good news, and rightly focuses on ensuring the public can access treatment for common but painful conditions such as conjunctivitis
closer to home.
“Our research has already revealed that over one million GP appointments every year are taken up to deal with eye health issues that optometrists – the eye experts on the high street – are
trained to manage and treat.
“Ensuring that high street opticians everywhere in the country can provide the public with a wider range of prescription medicines in the community is essential – we have to stop forcing
people to take on the 8am dash for a GP to treat minor eye conditions.
“The Pharmacy First scheme has shown there is a better way to provide care to the public, and this plan builds on that success. This plan rightly acknowledges that optometrists and contact
lens opticians are best placed to provide more minor eye conditions services, so that patients get faster access to care, available locally, with better clinical outcomes.”
