Abstract
With optometrists well placed to address the challenges and opportunities faced by contemporary eye care systems, it is ever more important to understand the genesis and development of the profession, so that optometrists can continue to build on this legacy for patient benefit. While the optometry profession of optometry in the United Kingdom can arguably trace its foundation back to 1629 and the Royal Charter gifted by Charles I to the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers to establish the 60th Livery Company of the City of London, the genesis of optometry as an independent profession (initially known as ‘ophthalmic optics’) can perhaps best be attributed to the formation of the British Optical Association in 1895. This paper reviews the current legal framework and recent changes that dictates how the optometry profession are trained and practice, along with clinical and educational innovations that are shaping the future role of the profession.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 268-273 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Clinical and Experimental Optometry |
| Volume | 108 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 13 Jan 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 13 Jan 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Keywords
- General Optical Council
- The College of Optometrists
- optometric education