The Undervalued Epidemic In UK Optometry

6/10 optometrists feel completely undervalued at work.

Who cares?

If you walked into any practice right now and lined up 10 optometrists, six of them would secretly admit they feel like their voice doesn't matter. Six of them go home feeling invisible. Six of them question whether anyone actually appreciates what they do.

This isn't just a "bad day at work" feeling. This is a systematic issue across our entire profession.

Did they bring this on themselves because of poor performance? I'd argue not, most of these optometrists are good at their jobs. Really good. They're trying to hit their targets, seeing their patients, and getting positive feedback. But they still feel worthless.

Why?

There's a difference between being used and being valued.

When you suggest 25-minute appointments instead of 20... crickets.

When you raise concerns about lackluster equipment making diagnoses difficult... "we'll look into it."

When you ask for better support... "budget constraints."

But somehow there's always money for new marketing campaigns and management bonuses.

Here's what I find most heartbreaking:

These same optometrists have convinced themselves it's normal.

"This is just how optometry works."

"At least I have a job."

"I should be grateful."

STOP.

You spent years training for this profession. You make life-changing diagnoses daily. You literally help people see - if that's not valuable, what is?

Feeling undervalued isn't a character flaw. It's not being "ungrateful." It's not "just how things are". It's a red flag. A signal that something fundamental is broken in how our profession operates.

The question isn't whether you feel this way. The question is: what are you going to do about it? 60% of UK optometrists can't all be wrong. What will you now learn, or do, to put some control back into your hands and save yourself?