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Chief Executive hails year of hard work & achievement at the College

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25 October 2005
College of Optometrists’ Chief Executive, Bryony Pawinska, presented her year-end report to the College’s Council last week, highlighting the College’s achievements during the financial year ended on 30 September.
 
The College works to an annual business plan based on a combination of key projects for the year and ‘business as usual’ activity. Highlights of the College’s activity in the past year include:
  • Successful pilot of the pre registration period and trial of the Final Assessment, achieving the College’s goal of securing GOC approval of the Scheme for Registration for full roll-out from summer 2005
  • Successful management of the handover to the GOC of the College’s voluntary CET scheme so that Members’ records on cetoptics.com were updated to include CET points they had gained for 2004
  • Successful implementation of a regional structure for the College, exceeding our target of one representative per region, with only three vacancies out of thirty five places on Council
  • Development of the College’s role as the arbiter of standards with the acceptance by the GOC of the College’s proposal for providing a common Final Assessment for all students taking courses leading to specialist registration
  • Making changes to our Guidance to reflect legislative changes in the Section 60 order and changes in drugs legislation, satisfying the GOC that there was appropriate professional guidance available to registrants at the date the new legislation took effect
  • Carrying out Performance Review interviews, providing valuable support to practitioners
  • Delivery of a student awareness campaign, including a series of Roadshows and a student newsletter, ensuring that the student population has an early introduction to the College
  • Doubling the number of delegates and exhibitors at this year’s Annual College Conference, Optometry Tomorrow
  • Re-launching the College website with a totally new look and feel that is more modern and dynamic, structured in such a way that various audiences are easily able to find what they are looking for and built on a technical platform that allows for quicker and easier updating than ever before
  • Doubling the circulation of the College’s e-newsletter- it now goes to more than half of College Members – and introducing a regional element providing an easy channel for regional representatives to share information with members in their region
  • Publishing four issues of Optometry in Practice, the College’s CET journal that incorporates In Focus and offered more than 30 CET points;
  • Publishing updated Members’ and Pre registration handbooks;
  • Publishing Clinical Audit Framework and Framework for Optometric referrals.
  • Responding to a range of media enquiries and providing spokespeople and comment on optometric issues to a cross section of media including BBC News 24, the TES and bbc.co.uk.
  • Sponsoring research into consumer opinion in conjunction with ‘Optician’ magazine which helps inform our planning activity and provides an invaluable evidence base for the Foster Review of Regulation, and the GOS Review
  • Responding to the Foster Review ‘Call for Ideas’
  • With the other optical bodies, developing a vision for the future of the GOS
  • Introducing a new Assessor system, including an online forum for assessors, claim system and visit reporting system
Bryony Pawinska commented “During the past business year, the College has achieved almost everything we set out in our very ambitious Business Plan and more besides. The introduction of the new Scheme for Registration, which transforms postgraduate pre registration training of optometrists, and the handover of the College’s popular voluntary CET scheme to the GOC were major pieces of activity that contribute to the development of the profession as well as change the way we operate internally. Our e-newsletter and new website have enhanced the way we communicate with members and the student campaign has been a real success, introducing the College to a new generation of optometrists. The year has been incredibly busy but as a result of the very hard work put in by the staff team and Council Members alike, it has been a great success.”
   
For further information please contact Beth Elgood on 020 7766 4350 or via email beth.elgood@college-optometrists

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