News and features

Following GOC approval, registered independent prescribers will be able to sign off individual clinical practice placement sessions for IP trainees

OT ’s clinical multimedia editor and IP optometrist, Ceri Smith-Jaynes, discusses her journey into optometry and why she decided to gain her IP qualification

OT  talks with clinicians about how independent prescribing has changed their practice – and explores how the qualification can develop in the future

Amit Sharma, optometrist and director at Hakim Group's Pinder & Moore Opticians, in Kingswinford, and lecturers at Ulster University, Dr Julie McClelland and Patrick Richardson, discuss a special cohort of IP training

Antimicrobial prescribing guidance for conditions such as blepharitis, conjunctivitis and cellulitis have been refreshed

Practice owner Peter Frampton was in the first class of optometrists to qualify in independent prescribing, in 2009. More than a decade on, he explains how having a fully IP staff has huge benefits for the contact lens side of his business

Evidence suggests therapeutic prescribing has a positive impact on enhanced services, while a placement bottleneck is among barriers identified

The GOC has agreed to a “more flexible” approach to meeting logbook requirements in independent prescriber training, a decision expected to help optometrists complete their training

OT  spoke with BCLA president, Indie Grewal, ahead of the publication of the Contact Lens Evidence-based Academic Reports in March

Data from LOCSU has shown a 24% increase in the number of clinical commissioning groups with urgent eye care services (MECS and CUES) since start of the pandemic