The following is a letter from the New Zealand Association of Optometrists (NZAO) council who, together with members of the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians board (ODOB), have been working with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to obtain more clarity for New Zealand optometrists and practice owners during the Covid-19 lockdown.

FROM THE NZAO COUNCIL

Our attention has been drawn to the letter from the Ministry of Health obtained by one of our members. In response to this, we would like all New Zealand optometrists to be aware of the work that is being performed on a daily basis by the NZAO and ODOB in this Covid 19 lockdown and to clearly note that the guidelines the MOH included in their letter were in-fact adapted from what we had written and sent to them earlier in the week.

We are working extremely long hours and consulting with each other and the relevant government organisations to ensure the advice we provide protects the safety of the public and our members and contributes to the elimination of Covid-19.

Please remember that many of us are also practice owners and share your stresses with regards to the closure of our businesses. We also have families and households to care for and children to home school.

Our ability to provide updates is constrained by the fact that we must ensure the recommendations we give follow the advice of the government. We have met online with the MoH yesterday to contribute to their development of Level 3 guidance for health professions and they will be releasing their guidelines over the next few days. Any alternative sources of information can be misleading and add to confusion.

The guidelines that have been produced allow the public to access services at Level 3, but the MoH is very strongly advising that this be kept to virtual means as much as possible. This may mean some innovation is required from the members of our profession to get our patients through. But if it is possible to provide virtual services we must do so, even if it’s just a temporary measure for a few weeks. It is imperative to limit physical contact at Level 3 as we are not out of the woods just yet. 

Please refer to the NZAO Covid-19 guidelines for up-to-date information as these will be adjusted as new information becomes available from the MoH.

Kia kaha

Rochelle van Eysden

NZAO president

On behalf of the NZAO Council

To review the current NZAO guidelines for optometrists for Alert Levels 1 to 4 as they currently stand, please go to www.nzao.co.nz/user.