Independent Prescribing for Optometrists
A distance-learning course jointly run by The University of Manchester and Aston University.
Recent legislation has extended independent prescribing rights to optometrists, subject to the satisfactory completion of a General Optical Council (GOC)-accredited training course. The restriction to the range of medicines that can be used and conditions that can be treated for IP optometrists is by reference to their competence:
‘Optometrist independent prescribers should be able to prescribe any licensed medicine for ocular conditions, affecting the eye and adnexa, within the recognised area of expertise and competence of the optometrist.’
The likely areas, in which optometrists are expected to work as Independent Prescribers, are Primary Eye Care and / or Glaucoma.
For further information on prescribing legislation, click to expand/collapse.
Until recently, UK registered optometrists had access to a limited range of diagnostic and therapeutic medicines, specified in ‘entry-level’ exemptions to the Medicines Act. This allowed all registered optometrists access to some prescription-only medicines (POMs). Dr June Crown’s Review of Prescribing, Supply and Administration of Medicines (1999) recommended that prescribing rights should be extended to certain non-medical professionals, including optometrists. In 2000, the NHS plan endorsed this recommendation the rationale being that it would provide patients with faster and more efficient access to medicines, as well as making better use of the skills of trained health professionals.
There is now an increased range of medicines available to optometrists through further exemptions to the Medicines Act. Two further levels of exemptions were established, both of which require additional training and qualifications. Since July 2005, optometrists on the Additional Supply (AS) register can supply and administer additional medicines enabling the management of a range of common non-sight threatening disorders. Optometrists on the Supplementary Prescribing (SP) register can prescribe these medicines in partnership with a medical practitioner.
In 2006, The Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the Department of Heath consulted on the proposal to introduce independent prescribing (IP) for optometrists. In June 2007 the Commission for Human Medicines proposed to define the scope of optometrist independent prescribing by reference to the competence of the individual prescribing optometrist. The same reference to competence is now applied in nursing and pharmacy Independent Prescribing. The Department of Health and the General Optical Council have since worked to achieve the legislative changes necessary to implement Independent Prescribing for optometrists.
Optometrists who wish to become independent prescribers are required to complete further GOC-approved training and apply for entry of their specialty onto the register. Once trained, they will have to maintain their skills, audit their activity and comply with the additional CET requirement for specialists. The legislation allows optometrists to prescribe any licensed medicine for ocular conditions affecting the eye and the tissues surrounding the eye. As stated above, IP optometrists will only be able to work within their area of recognised competence.
Course dates
There are two intakes each year for the Full Course: March and October.
There are two intakes each year for the Top-Up Course: February and August.