The UK's first integrated optometry and independent prescribing MOptom (IP) qualification at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has launched 

The UK's first integrated optometry and independent prescribing MOptom (IP) qualification at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has launched 

NES Optometry has a key role in supporting this programme. 

About the programme 

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has launched a new, integrated Master’s degree from which optometrists will graduate as independent prescribers (IP), from 2029. 

This new programme is the culmination of years of collaboration and planning between Scottish Government, the optometry schools in Scotland and NES. It will enable students to register as IP optometrists when they complete their five years of undergraduate training – currently the only UK nation where this opportunity will be available. 

Dr Janet Pooley, Chief Optometric Advisor to Scottish Government, noted that the programme aligns with the Scottish Government’s policy “…to provide increased community based eyecare and additional non-medical workforce within hospital eye services”. 

Higher Education Minister Graeme Dey and Public Health Minister Jenni Minto visited GCU campus on Tuesday 24 September to find out more about the new programme and meet the first cohort of students. 

Ministers attend launch of UK’s first integrated optometry and independent prescribing qualification at Glasgow Caledonian | Glasgow Caledonian University | Scotland, UK (gcu.ac.uk) 

NES’s role 

The course is changing from a four-year BSc (Hons) Degree to a five-year integrated Masters. NES is partnering with both GCU and The University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) to support the delivery of exciting new clinical placements in the final fifth year of the programme, the Foundation Training Year (FTY). We will achieve this through close working relationships with the network of community eyecare practices. Placements will rely not only on the supervision from our community optometrists, of which nearly a third are already IP qualified, but also on delivery of our simulated clinical experiences.   

The FTY is being developed to support the training of adaptable, therapeutically qualified optometrists who will be confident and capable of operating in multi-disciplinary teams across a variety of healthcare settings, to meet diverse and changing patient needs.  

Any questions, please contact nes.ftyoptometry@nhs.scot 

For more information, please visit the Optometry FTY Turas Learn Page

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