European ophthalmology from a British perspective
- Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology, University of Glasgow, Upper Ground Floor, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow G12 0YN, UK
In this brief overview of ophthalmology, I will inevitably oversimplify and omit some details which others may regard as important. Ophthalmology as a specialty is probably practised in a more diverse fashion throughout the European Union than any other medical subspecialty.
In Britain, ophthalmology is essentially a consultant led practice of ophthalmic surgery. We can work this way because of the presence of approximately 7000 optometrists in the United Kingdom in both hospital and private practice. In many parts of the European Union, however, ophthalmic opticians or optometrists do not exist and opticians are restricted to dispensing spectacles and contact lenses. By the Clausus Medicus or L'Acte Medicale, which restricts examination, diagnosis, and treatment to medically qualified people, European opticians are banned from carrying out many of the practices that are commonplace in the United Kingdom or United States
STRUCTURE OF EUROPEAN OPHTHALMOLOGY
First, let me make it clear, there are some very fine eye units in other parts of the EU, but the average ophthalmologist in the rest of Europe should not necessarily be equated with the average ophthalmologist in the United Kingdom. In Germany and France, there are each nearly 8000 ophthalmologists but no optometrists. There is nothing remotely equivalent to SWAG (Specialist Workforce Advisory Group) and no central effort is made to control numbers. There are many …
