Praising Don Grocott, Jayne Rawlinson said:  “Don has been an excellent President of the AOP for twelve years and FODO for three years and there is no-one better placed to lead the Optical Confederation though its next phase of development.  We are sorry to be losing him as President but delighted he has agreed to take on this even bigger role for the benefit of all”.

At the FODO AGM held in Cardiff on 15 May 2012 (as part of a joint event with the ACLM and the AOP), under the Federation's articles of association, three members of the Board of Directors stood down by rotation - Brian Carroll, Richard Edwards and Jocelyn Morgan.  All three were willing to stand again and were unanimously re-elected.

Commenting, David Hewlett, FODO Chief Executive said:  "We are indeed fortunate as an organisation to have such high-calibre directors and our warmest thanks go to our generous members who release them for this task.  It is their brain power, experience and strategic thinking which makes FODO such an effective voice within the Optical Confederation and across the wider health care sector."

FODO has for many years provided insurance cover in the Republic of Ireland.  Over the past few months at the request of members, FODO Ireland has been developing its service offering in the Republic of Ireland to

FODO Ireland has already responded to two government consultations, firstly to protect the fees structure for primary eye care and suggest improvements to benefit patients, and secondly to oppose compulsory registration of representative bodies as lobbyists.

The FODO Ireland website www.fodo.com/ireland will publish information on eye care regulations, consultation responses and news items.

Incoming FODO Ireland Chair Peter McGrath said, ‘We are delighted to have access to the intelligence and support framework offered by FODO Ireland.  We look forward to working with our colleagues in the AOI and IADO to present a united voice for the sector and further improve eye care for patients in Ireland.”

David Hewlett, Chief Executive of FODO Ireland said, “In this age of economic uncertainty, rising regulatory burden, and ageing populations, there has never been a more important time for the whole optical sector to work together to support and defend the provision of quality eye care for all.  Our aim is  to bring the strength and voice of the corporate optical sector to that common effort in Ireland.” 

Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Improving outcomes and supporting transparency, sets the national public health priorities for England and includes a measure of eye health.  The indicator will measure the number of people losing their sight from the three main causes of preventable sight loss: glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy. 

The framework is available to download from:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/public-health-outcomes/  (see download part 2, page 77 for eye health indicator)

See resources section on our website for the full press release.