Have your say on the upcoming 2026 Guidance for Professional Practice

The College's Guidance for Professional Practice underpins how optometrists in the UK deliver safe, effective and patient-centred care. It sets out the College’s view of good practice and sets out what is expected of optometrists. It is reviewed and updated every three years, and the next update is due this year.

As a key stakeholder, we need you to tell us what works well, what needs strengthening, and where practice, evidence or legislation has moved on. Every section of the Guidance is tested against current law, emerging evidence, and real-world practice. This is to ensure it continues to support optometrists in putting patients’ interests first.

Your feedback will directly influence the next edition of the Guidance, alongside a literature review and input from an expert stakeholder group. A draft update will then be published for wider public consultation later this summer.

The survey only takes approximately 3-5 minutes to complete.

Your contribution will help shape the definitive professional Guidance for the next three years, supporting you and your colleagues to deliver good and effective care wherever you practice in the UK.