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The year was a challenging one for optometrists and students in the face of COVID-19. The Optometry Board of Australia worked with other National Boards and Ahpra to support health practitioners during the pandemic. Regulatory approaches were modified to accommodate exceptional circumstances, and the Board continued to carry out its work remotely.
The pandemic continued to create issues, including the completion of clinical placements by optometry students. The Board maintained its oversight, ensuring that alternative teaching strategies and equivalent learning experiences deployed by approved programs were fit for purpose.
We encouraged practitioners to continue to complete continuing professional development (CPD), while recognising the difficulty in meeting CPD requirements due to COVID-19. The Board issued an assurance that it would not take action if practitioners could not meet the CPD registration standard due to the pandemic and also introduced a policy on financial hardship due to COVID-19.
The Board convened its annual meeting of the Optometry Regulatory Reference Group in October. This was the first time that the group had met virtually.
Members of the Board provided virtual lectures on professional obligations to final-year optometry students graduating from a number of Board-approved courses in 2020.
On 1 December, the Board’s revised Continuing professional development registration standard came into effect. The new requirements were a departure from the points-based system previously used by the profession. The revised CPD registration standard meant that CPD courses were no longer accredited by the Board, but allowed greater flexibility in choice of learning activities. The emphasis on identifying individual learning goals meant that practitioners are able to plan their CPD activities so that they can focus on their individual requirements based on their practice setting, professional interests and patient needs.
Resources included templates, fact sheets and tips sheets, and FAQs were published to help optometrists comply with the requirements.
On 14 December, the Board’s revised Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service came into effect. Resources were published to help make it easier for the public, practitioners and other advertisers to advertise responsibly.
The Board approved its accreditation agreement’s third year of funding with the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand (OCANZ). The agreement’s contemporary framework addresses accreditation issues such as cultural safety, safety and quality, and reducing regulatory burden, and aims to strengthen accountability and transparency of accreditation.
Mr Ian Bluntish