Orthoptists are specialist Allied Health Professionals who diagnose and treat eye disorders, visual impairments and eye movement disorders.
Orthoptists directly improve the quality of life of service users by treating these conditions and looking for serious neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Working life
Working as an Orthoptist will mean that you’ll take part in a variety of different tasks during your working day. These can include:
- Working with members of the multidisciplinary team and wider healthcare team
- Working with service users on a daily basis
- Operate a variety of imaging machines
- Interpret images produced to diagnose disease and injury
- Assess service users before and after treatment to ensure positive outcomes
Orthoptists work in a variety of settings including:
- Acute hospitals
- Private Practice
- Mobile imaging units
Orthoptists usually work with service users on a one to one basis to and you could work with both children and adults. Orthoptists also work alongside other Allied Health Professionals, medical staff and healthcare staff to support the service user through their patient journey.
Requirements
Becoming an Orthoptist requires an undergraduate degree in orthoptics which is available at four universities in the UK. The undergraduate course takes three to four years to complete and involves a lot of practical work with patients, as well as theoretical knowledge. There is also a postgraduate option which takes 2 years. Once you have completed your degree, you will be able to gain full registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Entry requirements for an undergraduate Orthoptics programme are typically:
- Five GCSEs (grades A to C or 9 to 4), including English language, maths and science.
- Two of three A levels, including a science
Or equivalent qualifications:
- A BTEC, HND or HNC which includes science
- A relevant T level (health or healthcare science may be accepted)
- A relevant NVQ
- A science-based access course
- Equivalent Scottish or Irish qualifications
Each university sets its own entry requirements, so it’s important to check with them directly which qualifications they will accept. In most cases, the results of an interview and other selection processes are also considered as well as your academic qualifications.
It’s also a good idea to spend some time within an orthoptics team to get some first hand experience of what the role’s really like before you apply.
Working as an Orthoptist will also provide further opportunities to develop your career through apprenticeships and internal training in the future.
Degree apprenticeship route
There are currently no degree apprenticeships offered in orthoptics.
Personal Characteristics
To work successfully as an Orthoptist, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be accurate and methodical and have good attention to detail
- Be able to work as part of a team but also be able to use your own initiative
- Be willing to follow procedures and take instruction from senior team members
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences
- Be able to work with children and adults
- Be able to communicate complex information to service users in an understandable way
Skills required
To work successfully as an Orthoptist, you need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods
- Be comfortable discussing treatment plans with service users where required
- Have good decision-making skills
- Have good attention to detail
Training and development opportunities
Once qualified and registered as an Allied Health Professional Orthoptist, you can continue to develop your career over time. You’ll have access to a yearly continuing professional development (CPD) check-in where you can discuss any additional training needs or qualifications you would like to achieve.
You will also be encouraged to join The British and Irish Orthoptic Society (BIOS) who offer further development opportunities, email updates and networking opportunities so that you are able to continue to learn from others who work in the same role as you.
Once you have experience in Orthoptics, you can progress your career and become a specialist orthoptist and later a senior or head orthoptist. You could also use your skills to teach or complete research as well as work in private practice.
Pay and benefits
Orthoptists in the NHS usually work 37.5 hours per week and depending on the setting and the service users you are working with, you could be required to work evenings and weekends too.
Orthoptists are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system and will typically start their career on AfC band 5 but with experience, further training and additional qualifications, can progress further up the pay scale. Other benefits of working as an Orthoptist include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as a Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.