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July 5 2012
A 2.5% hike in practitioners’ CET grant has been welcomed by the Optometric Fees Review Committee (OFRC), with the annual allowance for optometrists rising to £503 for 2011.
Similarly, the grant that pre-reg supervisors receive for optometry students also rises by 2.5%, increasing to £3,245 for the current year.
Optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners can make their claim for loss of earnings due to CET undertaken last year from now until October 31.
All increases, including the rise in GOS voucher values, which was announced earlier this year, will be backdated to April 1.
Disappointingly, the Department of Health has also confirmed that NHS sight test fees will remain frozen at £20.70.
David Craig, AOP director of operations, said: "We are very pleased that we have negotiated a rise in the CET grant and in the voucher values. While these rises in no way make up for the lack of a rise in the sight test fee, it does demonstrate the very hard climate for negotiation in which the OFRC had to work. Government purse strings are very tight at the moment and we are glad that we have been able to convince the Department of Health of the importance of supporting the profession in the upkeep of their clinical skills, for the benefit of patients (just as they support the other healthcare professions)."
Chair of the OFRC, Claire Slade, said: “In line with the current public sector pay freeze, the Government has once again decided not to increase GOS sight test fees. This is of course extremely disappointing; and the Department of Health has been left in no doubt about our views on the inadequacy of the sight test fee.
“That said, we have been able to influence Government to increase the GOS voucher values, which we are pleased about on our patients’ behalf; and we have still been able to negotiate a small increase in the CET and pre-registration trainers’ grants in these tough times.”
Practitioners can download a CET claim form from the Department of Health’s website.
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David Craig
July 5 2012 (14:12)
For so many years we have had to live with a sight test fee that has been wholly inadequate. We understand that times are hard for everyone and that there is a programme of austerity for the whole country. But the imposition of a fee, with no agreement with the OFRC, adds insult to injury and makes a mockery of the process of negotiation. Not only is the Department not helping us to start to right the injustice of the inadequate GOS fee, it is actually making the inequity worse, giving optometrists a bigger burden to shoulder. The profession will not be happy with this result – nor should they be.”
Sandip Doshi
July 5 2012 (20:07)
No big surprise that the NHS sight test fee remains unchanged when there are still many out there willing to do it for less than the NHS fee, or shockingly even for free, in an attempt to get a quick sale of product. It's about time the profession stood up for itself and wholesale boycotted NHS examinations until we are paid an appropriate fee. However, as the profession seems intent on self destruction, I doubt we will ever achieve unity to fight the greatest injustice that has existed in our profession.