On Easter weekend in 2025 a report from the think tank, Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI), together with a front-page Sunday Times article raised concerns about the integrity of optometrists referring cataract patients to independent sector providers in England.

Both articles posed questions around independent sector providers guaranteeing follow-up appointments to primary care optometrists on referral of a patient for cataract surgery. The CHPI report claimed that optometrists were being offered financial incentives to refer patients to particular private companies, and that financial incentives may have led to unnecessary referrals. It also suggested that optometrists stood to potentially gain additional revenue from a patient being referred back after surgery, since they would then have the opportunity to provide new glasses or contact lenses.

The CHPI warned that financial incentives could be distorting the clinical decision-making of optometrists, and that this has the potential to undermine confidence in the provision of eye care services and overall confidence in the optometry profession.

Understandably, these articles created a stir among the optometry profession. Now that the dust has settled, the College would like to take the opportunity to offer a measured response to the criticisms relevant to our members.