The General Optical Council (GOC) has approved the third specialist qualifications output of the Sector Partnership for Optical Knowledge and Education (SPOKE), entitled Enhancing the scope of practice in optical professionals. The output is now available to download from the SPOKE website.
Project Three for the GOC’s specialist qualifications in independent prescribing and contact lens optics has been developed at a series of workshops with representatives from across the sector. The resulting report acknowledges the great deal of enthusiasm for, and value placed upon, qualifications to enhance the scope of practice of optical registrants.
The report observes that Contact Lens qualifications required minimal changes to the curriculum and that remaining challenges to the delivery of qualifications are largely restricted to accessing the right case mix and follow up appointments.
In contrast, the report indicates that Independent Prescribing qualifications are reporting significant challenges in placement delivery including overall capacity, equality of access to setting and supervision, and geographical availability and consistency of placement experience.
As more eye care is delivered out of hospitals and on the high street, the report highlights in detail the resources and support needed from a range of organisations to address the logistical requirements needed to train the next generation of specialist optical professionals.
Whilst the GOC’s education and training requirements (ETR) can address some of the issues identified (e.g. through increased flexibility of supervision requirements), the report suggests UK-wide funding and support systems will be required to address ongoing issues and capitalise on the benefits of the ETR. Potential solutions for action are proposed throughout the document.
Professor Lizzy Ostler, Director of Education for The College of Optometrists, leading the SPOKE steering group, said: “I am delighted that the sector has come together through the SPOKE Hub to consider in depth the opportunities and challenges in delivering specialist ophthalmic qualifications as these move to the ETR model. It is great to see GOC already taking action to enable alignment of qualification regulations, and to start work with sector bodies to ensure better recognition, deployment and funding for development of such important capabilities in our registrants.”
Steve Brooker, GOC Director of Regulatory Strategy, said:
“This timely report underlines the importance of specialist qualifications providing optical professionals with the clinical skills needed to treat more patients as the delivery of eye care shifts from hospital to community settings.
Our surveys show great enthusiasm among registrants to develop new skills, so it’s vital to ensure the right infrastructure is in place to support them. The GOC has already moved to ease the supervision bottleneck in independent prescribing by creating more flexibility in the design of qualifications and enabling education providers training students under the old system to align delivery of these qualifications more closely with the new ETR requirements. We look forward to working in partnership with a range of organisations to tackle the challenges raised in the report.”
(SPOKE) is a cross-sector collaboration funded by the General Optical Council (GOC), led by The College of Optometrists, and managed by a steering group comprising representatives from the College, the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) and the Optometry Schools Council (OSC).