New Zealand Association of Optometrists
The aims of the NZAO are:
- To promote optometry as the source of primary eye health and vision care in New Zealand;
- To support high quality clinical practice; and
- To educate others about the roles and skills of optometrists
We want optometry to be noticed and valued. We work with the Government to ensure that legislation is optometry friendly – or at least not optometry threatening.
We work with DHBs and other health organisations to ensure that optometry skills are utilised within the health sector
We work with educators to ensure that optometrists are able to keep their skills and knowledge up to date, and
We work with the public to promote the value of regular eye examinations.
Some examples of the things that the NZAO does:
Optometry prescribing
In 2000 the NZAO wrote the first application to the New Prescribers advisory committee. We worked with people at the university and people on the Optometrists Board and perhaps most importantly we worked with people in the Ministry of Health –
Finally in 2005 the optometry prescribing regulations came into force and the Minister of Health presented certificates to the first 40 or so TPA qualified optometrists. By the end of your course every one of you will be able to write medical prescriptions thanks to the work of the NZAO.
Pharmac subsidies
In 2006 NZAO started working with Pharmac to ensure that optometrist prescriptions were eligible for pharmacy subsidies. As a result the system of subsidies was reviewed to focus on patient characteristics not who prescribes the medicine. This was a major triumph for the NZAO as we achieved in 3 years what the GPs had been trying to achieve for 15 years! As a result of our work all optometrist scripts are eligible for government subsidies just like the ophthalmologists are.
Restricted task
You will be graduating into an environment where the right to derive a prescription for glasses or contact lenses is reserved for optometrists and ophthalmologists. This is the result of work by the NZAO and the Optometrists Board. Without this combined and concerted approach there is no doubt the restriction would not exist. Think about that for a moment!
The restriction exists as part of the HPCA legislation and its associated regulations. Without the NZAO to advocate for favourable legislative outcomes NZ could well become a place where anyone with an auto-refractor can set up a glasses shop and sell spectacles and contact lenses to the general public. I am sure that as graduating optometrists you are pleased the NZAO is doing such a good job.