07/04/2026
🚀 Exciting news for optometry in Scotland! A new national placement year is coming in 2028. Stay tuned for how you can get involved.
We’re excited to share the first update in our new communications package introducing the Foundation Training Year (FTY).
The FTY marks a new, nationally supported, practice-based placement delivered during the final year of the new integrated MOptom (IP) programmes at GCU and UHI. It will bring university learning and real-world patient care together, with a strong focus on confidence, capability and readiness for modern practice.
What makes Scotland’s approach different?
✔️ Integrated MOptom (IP)
✔️New Supervisory Team model
✔️Two placements
✔️ A student based final year
✔️ A nationally coordinated, quality assured placement model
✔️ New Assessment Framework
🎥 We’re also sharing the first short animation in a new video series, setting out why optometry placement provision in Scotland is changing and how the FTY fits into the new training pathway.
Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing more about what’s changing, why it matters, and what it means in practice, for students, supervisors and the wider profession.
👉 Read the newsletter here: https://newsletters.nes.digital/optometry-foundation-training-year/launching-2028-a-new-era-for-optometry-placements-in-scotland/
The Launching 2028: A New Era for Optometry Placements in Scotland page of the NHS Education for Scotland website.
