Press Release

FODO and AOP annual general meetings and gala dinner – 12 May 2009

May 15 2009

Times are changing for optics. Over 150 members of both FODO and the AOP - and guests from the other optical organisations – were welcomed into the elegant surroundings of the Old Liberal Club at One Whitehall Place for a buffet lunch and novel event last Tuesday – the co-location of the AGMs of these two significant optical bodies.

Following a warm welcome by Don Grocott (who is president of both the AOP and FODO), the two chairmen Michael Charlton (AOP) and Paul Carroll (FODO) gave a "two-handed" address emphasising the benefits and achievements won by all the optical bodies working more closely together, and the opportunities for developing this further in the coming year.
As they made clear FODO and the AOP are not alone in this. The ACLM, FMO and ABDO have all been calling for closer working between the optical bodies at their AGMs over the past year.

The technical parts of the AGMs were dealt with dispatch seeing

• Jayne Rawlinson of Healthcall elected as new FODO Chair (in place of Paul Carroll who steps down after three years)

• Graham Ackers of TH Collison elected as new FODO treasurer (in place of Alan Tinger who is standing down after seven years)

There was also a joyful but sad farewell to Michael Bateman who, following a year when he was awarded Life Fellowship of the College of Optometrists and a CBE by the Queen in the birthday honours, has decided after 46 years in FODO (and its predecessor body the Society of Opticians) to stand down from the FODO Council.

Michael has, however, agreed to stay on as OFRC Chairman to continue to lead the professions through the current 3 year fees deal.

Michael Bateman was awarded Life Membership of FODO for high long and outstanding service to the professions.

Robin Banks, former AOP Chairman of Finance, was awarded Honorary Membership of the AOP on his retirement from the AOP Council.

Ian Lucas was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the AOP.

Professor Adrian Moore (previously Dean of Applied Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University), whose leadership led to the establishment of a new optometry degree, the first foundation degree in ophthalmic dispensing and university certificated programmes for practice support staff, was awarded Honorary Membership of FODO for his major contributions to optical education and science.

Key Note Address FODO & AOP AGMs

The assembly was then addressed by Department of Health Director of Primary Care, Ben Dyson CBE.

Ben, no stranger to optics having led the GOS review in England three years ago, outlined how World Class Commissioning might apply to optics. He emphasised the Department's support for the UK Vision Strategy – which places great emphasis on regular sight testing for all as the public health intervention to prevent blindness and visual impairment - and PCTs' roles in helping the professions extend their roles and reach out to all parts of the community especially hard-to-reach groups. He spoke about the possible development of "hub and spoke" models with community optometrists in clinical networks (like the new cancer networks) supporting clinical hubs.

Commenting

Bob Hughes (AOP Chief Executive) and David Hewlett (FODO Chief Executive) both commented that as two sister organisations with very similar aims, it seemed daft to have separate FODO and AOP AGM events a couple of days apart, often in the same city and sometimes with the same guest speakers. "We have been able to put on a superb event for all our members by combining resources."

The two Chairmen Paul Carroll and Michael Charlton also commented that speaking two-handed was a novel but very worthwhile experience. "The format was more effective and we were able to have more debate - as well as a super speaker in Ben - with time for both organisations' members to hold their associations to account but also to focus more on future challenges and opportunities across the professions as a whole."

Don Grocott said: "Combining forces wherever appropriate is clearly the way to get optics on the map and noticed by those who matter. I am delighted to see all the optical bodies turning away from the paths of isolation which have so bedevilled us in the past."

Annual Dinner

The AGMs were followed by a formal dinner in One Whitehall Place for the FODO and AOP Councils and their guests.

Presentations were made to

• outgoing FODO chair Paul Carroll

• outgoing FODO Treasurer Alan Tinger;

• and, on behalf of the whole profession, to Michael Bateman.

Rosie Varley, OBE, ex-chair of the GOC, was also honoured with Life Membership of the AOP.

The dinner this year took a commercial theme with guest speaker VAT barrister, Andrew Young. Not only had Andrew advised on the successful Southport Visionplus case, he continues to advise the optical bodies from time to time on VAT issues.

Tongue firmly in cheek, Andrew spoke about how joint working would be a bad thing as it would clearly reduce fees for lawyers and accountants in these difficult times when they FODO & AOP AGMs needed all our help and support. Using tax as his example, he also warned how regulators often use public consultations to get their own way rather than genuinely to reflect the will of the people."