Optometry Scotland is responsible for representing the views of the Optometry sector in Scotland
10/03/2026
Clinic in Session with Eilidh!
In this short video, Eilidh explains the common causes and symptoms of low vision, including macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of sight loss in the UK.
Understanding the signs can help people seek support earlier and access the right care.
Please help us raise awareness by sharing this with your patients and community.
10/03/2026
PCA(O)2026(03) is now available.
Members can log in to the Members Hub on the Optometry Scotland website to view the full document. For ease, an Optometry Scotland one-page summary is also available to accompany the PCA and highlight the key points.
Following our CLVS blog, we’re sharing lessons from the Low Vision Service in Wales, delivering care closer to home through community optometry, with clear referral pathways and support from sector partners.
It’s a proven model and one we believe could be adapted for Scotland, improving local access, supporting multidisciplinary care, and helping reduce pressure on hospital services.
World Glaucoma Week highlights the importance of early detection and ongoing monitoring in preventing avoidable sight loss from glaucoma.
Across Scotland, the Community Glaucoma Service (CGS) enables patients to be monitored safely and effectively closer to home, reducing pressure on hospital services and improving local access to care.
Optometrists can administer CGS by obtaining their NESGAT qualification, ensuring they have the advanced skills needed for high-quality, patient-centered care.
At Optometry Scotland, we continue to champion prevention, local access and investment in community-based services that protect sight and strengthen NHS capacity.
08/03/2026
On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the women working across the optometry and eye care sector in Scotland, in community practices, hospitals, education, research, leadership and professional representation.
From delivering frontline patient care to shaping services, policy and research, women play a central role in protecting sight and strengthening eye care across our communities.
For International Women’s Day, we’re shining a spotlight on two of the women helping to shape Optometry Scotland.
Get to know more about Eilidh Thomson and Kathryn Trimmer and the role they play in supporting community optometry across Scotland.
Clinic in session with our Chair, Eilidh Thomson, has recorded a short video explaining what low vision is and how optometrists diagnose it during an eye examination.
Watch the video to learn more and help spread the word by sharing with your patients and communities.
Thanks Eilidh! 👏
05/03/2026
Today is World Book Day, which celebrates the joy of reading and the power books have to inform and inspire our imaginations.
For people living with sight loss, access to reading is supported through low vision aids, accessible formats and specialist support. Community optometry and low vision services play a vital role in helping people continue to read and learn.
At Optometry Scotland, low vision remains a key strategic priority, and we continue to work with partners to strengthen community low vision services across Scotland, improving local access to timely support.
03/03/2026
Did you know?
Around 1 in 30 people in Scotland are living with sight loss. That’s over 180,000 people whose daily lives are affected by their vision.
This highlights why accessible, community-based eye care and timely support matter, helping people stay independent and reducing pressure on hospital services.
03/03/2026
World Hearing Day highlights the importance of protecting our hearing and the wider role that sensory health plays in overall wellbeing.
Our sight and sound are senses that go hand-in-hand, supporting communication and quality of life. Regular NHS-funded eye examinations contribute to early detection of eye disease and wider health conditions, helping people stay active and connected within their communities.
At Optometry Scotland, we continue to champion a preventative, local approach to eye care that supports people’s sensory health across over the course of their lives.
28/02/2026
A huge thank you to Elaine Salina for visiting Braidwood Primary in Lanarkshire to speak with pupils about optometry.
The children were full of questions and clearly very keen to learn more about how we care for people’s vision and eye health. It is always inspiring to see that level of curiosity at such a young age.
Elaine, a former member and hospital optometrist, may now be retired, but she continues to give back to the profession by sharing her experience and encouraging the next generation.
Thank you, Elaine, for your continued support and for championing optometry in our communities.
Have you visited a local school or community group to talk about optometry? We would love to hear about it. Share your experiences in the comments or send us your photos so we can celebrate the fantastic work happening across Scotland.
27/02/2026
New blog Alert! Lessons from Wales: Building a Community Low Vision Service in Scotland
With low vision services referenced in the recent Scottish Budget, our latest blog reflects on what Scotland can learn from the Welsh model, exploring how community based care improves access, supports independence and reduces pressure on hospital services.
Thank you to Optometry Wales for the 5 Nations Update, which enabled this reflection, and for sharing insight on the Welsh Low Vision Service.
We are at Dynamic Earth today for the Scottish Liberal Democrats Conference!
Optometry Scotland continues to work across Scotland’s political landscape to represent our members and champion community optometry. If you’re here, come and say hello.
Representing the interests of our members remains central to our work, as we champion sustainable funding, workforce development and the ongoing evolution of NHS-funded community eye care.
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We are a not-for-profit organisation and the only representative of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians to the Scottish Government
Mission Statement & Objectives
Our mission is to advance world class eye care in Scotland. We will achieve this aim by:
Establishing clear aims objectives to the industry
Placing good communications and membership at the centre of our strategic plan
Securing the correct funding to facilitate our objectives
Work with industry stakeholders and the media to raise awareness of the importance of optometry in the primary care sector.
History
Through extensive negotiations, meetings, lobbying and sheer will and determination, our previous Chairmen Frank Munro, Hal Rollason and Donald Cameron led the newly formed Optometry Scotland to the introduction of the new GOS eye examination in April 2006. The introduction of the new structure of fees and standards heralded new levels of professional eye care which have become the envy of the optometry world and other professional health bodies who have learned from our experience and are now lobbying for funds. Our thanks to these pioneers of modern optometry in Scotland.
Function
Optometry Scotland is the sole negotiator for terms and conditions for the optical sector with the Scottish Government. A key aim is to negotiate the best possible fee structure in support of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians to allow them to continue to offer increasingly vital services within primary care.
