WRITER Skye Cappuccio

Over the past year, many of our members have expressed concerns about our profession’s trajectory. These concerns are valid. They demand a concerted, considered, and collective response.

Earlier this year, Optometry Australia (OA) released the Optometry Workforce Projections Study1 showing that, based on current demand for eye care, Australia currently has an oversupply of optometrists. OA has strongly opposed further expansion of optometry programs in Australia and will continue to do so. The study also highlighted that a significant proportion of Australians are missing out on essential eye care. While the workforce is strong, many Australians are not accessing the services they require.

The challenge and opportunity is to ensure the profession thrives while every community receives the care it deserves. Rising to this challenge demands action across multiple fronts. OA is working to identify and address barriers to optometric access for those populations that data highlights as most in need. This includes people living in rural and remote areas, children and adolescents, and people living with diabetes.

THE DAWSON REVIEW

Against this backdrop, the Independent review of complexity in the national registration and accreditation scheme2 (the Dawson Review) offers a timely opportunity. Led by Sue Dawson, the review includes 26 recommended actions and provides a much-needed roadmap to modernise the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s (Ahpra) processes and ensure that regulation supports, rather than constrains, the health workforce of the future.

The Dawson Review makes clear that protecting the public and supporting the workforce go hand in hand. It calls out the need to better align regulatory decisions with health system needs, so Australians receive care that is both high quality and accessible. Training pipelines, scopes of practice, and job markets have long developed separately from regulatory processes. This disconnect has contributed to oversupply in some areas and under-servicing in others. The Dawson Review, therefore, provides an important platform to address oversupply, underutilisation, and workplace conditions. One key recommendation is to formally link workforce planning to regulation, with health ministers establishing a permanent Health Workforce Taskforce to ensure data and planning inform decisions. OA has long argued for smarter workforce planning, and we support this shift.

We believe workforce data should be central to regulation. We will work to ensure our optometry workforce projection findings inform the Health Workforce Taskforce, making the case that Australia cannot continue graduating more optometrists than the system can absorb. We have opposed new schools and unnecessary student increases, and will continue to advocate for sustainable intakes and innovative solutions to address maldistribution.

The Dawson Review also acknowledges ongoing scope of practice expansion and calls for Ahpra to be more flexible and responsive, streamlining processes for updating scopes in collaboration with professions. This aligns with our goal of enabling optometrists to practise at full scope and to have their skills formally recognised, starting with oral prescribing without a restrictive medicines list.

The Review’s recognition of the need to enable appropriate evolution of clinical scope strengthens our push to expand the ways in which optometrists can work to support their communities. We are pressing for faster, evidence-based approvals for scope enhancement; the regulatory environment must catch up, with full recognition of optometrists’ skills and the removal of outdated restrictions.

Enabling full scope of practice and greater integration of optometry into multidisciplinary care, as encouraged by the Dawson Review, will help create new career pathways and greater recognition of optometrists as highly skilled health professionals. We also welcome reforms to complaints handling, including fairer and faster processes, which will reduce stress for practitioners.

ADDRESSING WORKPLACE PRESSURES

We do acknowledge that not all workplace issues sit with Ahpra. We continue to call on major optometry employers to align with our position statement3 on appropriate workforce conditions for clinical optometrists, which sets out clear standards for safe, sustainable and rewarding workplaces. Workplaces that fall short of these standards fail the profession, and their patients.

We must continue to address oversupply responsibly, improve workplace conditions, and build community demand for eye care to better align with true community need. This is the pathway to a future where optometrists are respected, supported and valued, and where our communities have access to the quality eye care they deserve.

Skye Cappuccio is the Chief Executive Officer of Optometry Australia.

References available at mivision.com.au.