Optometry

Following their Education Strategic Review (ESR), the regulator for optometrists, the General Optical Council (GOC), published new Education and Training Requirements (ETR) for how optometrists are trained in the UK. The new requirements ensure that all optical professionals are equipped to deliver eye-care services in a rapidly changing landscape and meet the needs of patients in the future. 

For more information, see the GOC's Education and Training page on their website. 

The new route to qualification and registration as an optometrist in the UK will be the successful completion of a master’s degree in optometry (MOptom). Academic study will be combined with professional and clinical experience in a single approved qualification. The new integrated MOptom will ensure students gain greater experience working with patients and will prepare students for entry into the workplace in a variety of settings to support expanding clinical roles.

In Scotland, the changes will go a step further, where included within the MOptom will be the independent prescribing (IP) qualification, supporting students to register with the GOC as both entry-level optometrists and non-medical prescribers upon successful graduation.

The Foundation Training Year (FTY) takes place within the final fifth year of the MOptom in the two Schools of Optometry in Scotland (Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)).  It is a placement year, supported by NHS Education for Scotland (NES), to aid student optometrists in developing and demonstrating the skills, knowledge and behaviours expected of registered optometrists working in Scotland. It will give them the opportunity to consolidate their learning and education and offers workplace-based, practical training in a safe and supportive clinical environment.

The changes introduced by the GOC have provided the opportunity to reshape the future optometric workforce in Scotland.  As explained by Dr Janet Pooley (Chief Optometric Advisor, Scottish Government) in the webinar distributed in December 2023, optometric care has evolved in recent years, and the new undergraduate training model will embrace this change. 

The FTY will be delivered in partnership with Scottish Government, GCU, UHI and NES, along with collaborative input from key stakeholders. These include placement providers, employers, regulatory and professional bodies, and industry representatives.

NES will support the delivery of the FTY in collaboration with our university partners, GCU and UHI. This will include the quality management and assurance of the clinical placements as well as other key elements.

The FTY will consist of two separate clinical placements to provide a rich learning experience, at least one of which will involve independent prescribing (IP) practice. In addition, there will be IP simulation placements to complement the main clinical placements, as well as the equivalent of one protected day each week for clinical development, consolidation, and reflection. Included in this protected time will be a NES-led supportive training programme for students.

An e-Portfolio will be used to ensure students are progressing throughout the FTY, by supporting evidence of their practice. The portfolio will allow students to document learning activities and experiences demonstrating essential skills and behaviours, mapped against the required GOC learning outcomes.

Yes. Students will receive remuneration whilst undertaking the FTY. Exact details are still to be confirmed.

Students will remain enrolled with their university during their entire 5-year degree.  Students will also remain registered with the GOC as student optometrists throughout their 5 years of education.

The first set of students to commence the new master’s course will enrol at GCU in September 2024, with UHI planning to commence their new programme in September 2025. The first cohort of students will commence the FTY in summer 2028. 

There will be no disruption for students currently enrolled on any existing GOC-approved undergraduate degree. All student optometrists will be required to meet the knowledge, skills, and behaviours for outcomes for registration in optometry and will be eligible for GOC registration upon successful completion of their GOC approved route to registration. For students on the current 4-year BSc (Hons) programmes, this means successful completion of an undergraduate programme followed by successful completion of the College of Optometrists Scheme for Registration.  For students on the new programmes, this means successful completion of the MOptom IP programme (which incorporates placement). 

Once GOC registered, there is, therefore, no difference with regards to qualification and clinical practice between students on the current, 4-year, or new 5-year programme, except for IP: students on the new programme will graduate with IP; students undertaking the current 4-year undergraduate degree would need to complete separate training towards IP post-graduation.  

All students on the new programme will be enrolled in a training programme that includes IP.  The intended outcome, therefore, is for students to qualify as MOptom with Independent Prescribing.