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Comments (3)
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Anonymous22 July 2016
Is the practitioner in the photo MECS accredited?
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Anonymous22 July 2016
As a single-handed practitioner one gets isolated and it is good therefore to reassure oneself that one's skills are up to date and relevant. It's over 40 years since I qualified but I have found Part 1 interesting and definately reassuring. I notice that Specsavers have Part2 exams all over the country and I am very concerned they will repeat what they did with the DVLA visual field exams,only it would be far more damaging to independents because the perception (and the fact) would be that their Optoms are more qualified than others!! A truly night-mare scenario.
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Anonymous21 July 2016
This is a great development and one we have embraced in our practice for over 15 years in terms of direction of travel. It surely won't take much to morph our successful PEARS scheme into a MECS. However, I still find myself puzzled that someone already deemed competent in the skills needed isn't automatically exempt the accreditation process. I can understand that practitioners who have not practised all of their core competencies when working solely to GOS standards may need revision I am struggling with the repeated need to demonstrate skills. In particular I have been advised by the College Direct of Education that being IP qualified does not exempt one from MECS accreditation despite this being the ONLY registered speciality and at a level much higher than any PEARS or MECS scheme . IP entitles an optometrist to treat any condition of the eye or adnexa with any BNF drug within their competence and implicit in this is diagnosis and management. Were i to do MECS accreditation it might be the fifth time I have been assessed as competent to use VOLK. This is a skill I have been teaching for twenty nine years. Hardly ground breaking. Can we have some common sense please.
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