Orthoptics

Is it hard to find jobs in orthoptics and is it a worthwhile career?

rashid2002*

Is it hard to find jobs in orthoptics and is it a worthwhile career?

Hi, I'm a 3rd year Orthoptics student at the University of Liverpool. The UK has a shortage of Orthoptists and there are always vacancies open all across the UK. although you might not see a massive list on the NHS jobs website, department heads hold on to their vacancies for when new orthoptists graduate so theirs always jobs available. There are more vacancies for orthoptists south of the country but that doesn't mean theirs a lack of jobs in the north and personally after going off on placement and having the opportunity to explore loads of the UK from Portsmouth to Glasgow, i don't think that fact concerns me.

Career worthwhile-wise, from a student perspective who has been on a collective 5 months' worth of clinical placements...so far, and spoken to clinicians about life as an orthoptist, it seems like an immensely worthwhile career. Every clinician I've spoken with to date enjoys their job, and there is immense job satisfaction, each day is varied so It doesn't get repetitive or boring, you're very autonomous and will be diagnosing and treating patients, all while not having to work evenings or weekends and following the NHS banded pay system. A day as an orthoptist can have you treating such a variety of interesting cases from young children with a lazy eye to an elderly patient with double vision so it's always interesting to get to know the patient and treat them for the symptoms they present with. Orthoptists begin their career straight out of uni at Band 5 and most progress quickly into Band 6 to match the independence and responsibility of an orthoptist.

Orthoptics is a great course at university too, unlike optometry which has a pre-reg year at the end of studying, in orthoptics we have 3 placements each year that allow you to apply the things you've learned at uni straight into practice and for me, that's helped consolidate my learning so much and made me into a better clinician. From learning the best technique for assessing patients to building communication and history-taking skills, going on placements is invaluable and makes the course so fun too.

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