raising the profile of optometry


Raising awareness Consumer media is an important channel to ensure that the public understand the optometrist’s unique role and the importance of regular sight tests. We provide timely and accurate information, expert advice and informed comment. Our stories achieved over 530 pieces of coverage this year, including 58 in the national press, 149 in the regional press and 16 radio interviews. We also undertook a large scale piece of consumer research – 4,000 adults talked to us about their general attitudes towards sight tests and eye health. The results will be used to inform future press activity addressing issues like ageing and falls, the prevalence of AMD and ethnicity and eye health. A full report will be launched in 2011.


Developing a public affairs strategy We have developed a public affairs strategy to ensure the College is well positioned to influence policy. The strategy focuses on clinical leadership, education, professional development and research. Longer term, we seek to raise the profile of our members and position the College as a thought leader in the healthcare debate. We responded to 23 consultations and continued to


provide, with the RNIB, the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Eye Health and Visual Impairment. As an active member of the Eye Health Alliance we supported events at the 2010 political party conferences and brought together MPs, Peers, health care professionals, patients and national charities to discuss the eye health needs of those with learning disabilities. We supported both press and public affairs activity around the UK’s first National Eye Health Week in June. In December, with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists,


we brought optometrists, ophthalmologists, patients and policy makers together to discuss quality and efficiency in glaucoma care and debate the key aspects of quality that the new quality standard for glaucoma should include.


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Working with young people The number of students applying for optometry courses has halved in the last ten years. For optometry to thrive we must continue to attract high quality students. Working in partnership with the sector and educational specialists, we piloted a series of workshops, bringing optometry and optics to life in the classroom. Following the workshop 55% of students said they would recommend entry to the profession as a good career choice, 77% said they were more aware of the importance of eye health and 79% could outline the difference between an optometrist and dispensing optician. We plan to roll the workshops out nationwide in 2011-2012.


Our international voice The College hosts the secretariats for the World Council of Optometry and the European Academy of Optometry and Optics. This has included supporting the development and delivery of the organisations’ communications materials and events including the WCO’s 6th Educator’s Conference held in Durban in September, and the Academy Conference held in Copenhagen in May. Through this involvement the College contributes to, and learns about the development of the profession internationally, particularly in the areas of research and education.


The British Optical Association Museum The BOA Museum, which is housed within the College, was awarded full accreditation status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in February 2010. Its temporary exhibition on nutrition ‘A Feast for the Eyes’ was extended to run throughout the year and was joined by an exhibition ‘Who is Blind?’ mounted to coincide with the launch at the College of the book ‘Low Vision: the essential guide for optometrists’. In March, a major year-long loan exhibition was mounted at the School of Optometry in Cardiff to mark the 75th anniversary of the teaching of ophthalmic optics in Wales, whilst smaller displays were taken to the Optometry Tomorrow Conference in York and the College Diploma Ceremony in November. A significant donation of a sculpture of the eye in Murano glass was received from Mr H I Green FCOptom, given in appreciation of the support of the College and its predecessor body over his sixty-year career in optics.


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