The Department of Health and Social Care’s decision to consult on extending the medicines exemptions within the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 marks a significant milestone for UK optometry. If approved, the changes will allow newly qualified optometrists to access and supply a wider range of prescription-only medicines (POMs) without requiring additional supply (AS) or independent prescribing (IP) status. This represents not only a practical shift in day-to-day patient care, but an important recognition of optometry as a maturing therapeutic profession.

Outside of IP status, the proposed medicines are currently the preserve of optometrists with an AS qualification. Introduced in 2005, AS was intended to bridge the gap between entry-level optometrists and IP optometrists for treating a range of common and non-sight-threatening eye conditions and superficial trauma and infections. 

With changes in education, service delivery and scope of practice since then, optometrists in primary care settings are increasingly involved in delivering eye care services beyond sight tests – particularly within commissioned pathways such as Community Urgent Eyecare Service and Minor Eye Conditions Service, in large part without additional qualifications. This reflects how the profession has evolved to provide management of these eye conditions safely and effectively (COptom, 2025a). 

In my view, this consultation is a long-overdue recognition that optometry is becoming a truly therapeutic discipline.