The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) is the main professional association for opticians in the UK.

History

ABDO was formed in 1986 from the merger of the Association of Dispensing Opticians and the Faculty of Dispensing Opticians, following the Health and Social Security Act of 1984. The profession of dispensing opticians has been regulated voluntarily since 1926 and, as a statutory profession, by the Opticians Act since 1958. Since such time the conduct of dispensing opticians has thus been regulated partly by legal provisions, by advice given by the General Optical Council, and by ABDO’s own Advice to Fellows. The

General Optical Council The General Optical Council (GOC) is an organisation in the United Kingdom which maintains a register of opticians and regulates the services provided by dispensing opticians and optometrists. The stated function of the GOC is "''to protect the pu ...

was formed by the Opticians Act 1958, to make the British optician profession statutorily protected.

Structure

ABDO currently has 9,000 members and represents over 6.000 qualified dispensing opticians in the UK. It also has 500 members overseas, 500 associate members and approximately 1,800 student members worldwide. The Association is governed by a board of directors, which consists of nine full members of the Association elected by members’ ballot. The board has a non-voting academic adviser. The board is served by the secretariat of the Association headed by the general secretary Sir Anthony Garrett CBE HonFBDO. The president and vice president are elected by the board from amongst its number. The term of office, for both the president and vice president, is normally two years. ABDO is divided into the following regions within the UK: •ABDO London •ABDO Midlands •ABDO North of England •ABDO South •ABDO Northern Ireland •ABDO Scotland •ABDO Wales Within each region, a Regional Lead is supported by Sub Regional Leads who between them look after the interests of ABDO members at a local level. The Association's registered office is at 199, Gloucester Terrace, London W2 6LD. It is situated off '' Bishops Bridge Road'' (A4206), between

Royal Oak tube station Royal Oak is a station of the London Underground, on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between and stations. The station is on Lord Hill's Bridge and is in Travelcard Zone 2 for the London Underground. Although not heavily used at oth ...

, to the west, and

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, to the east. It is opposite the

Hallfield Estate The Hallfield Estate, owned by Westminster City Council, is one of several modernist housing projects in Bayswater, London designed in the immediate postwar period by the Tecton architecture practice, led by Berthold Lubetkin. Following the di ...

. ABDO College was established at

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Godmersham Godmersham is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village straddles the Great Stour river where it cuts through the North Downs and its land is approximately one third woodland, all in the far east and west o ...

, Kent, in 2001, on the A28. Also based at the ABDO's headquarters are the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians and Federation of Ophthalmic & Dispensing Opticians. It has a publishing division at

Crowborough Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 33 miles (53 ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

Optician training in the UK

Training to become an optician is available at British universities. * ABDO College *

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first c ...

Bradford College Bradford College is a further and higher education college in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, with approximately 25,000 students. The college offers a range of full and part-time courses from introductory level through to postgraduate l ...

City University London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University ( gd, Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, ), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and G ...

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

University of Central Lancashire

Function

ABDO represents the interests at a national level of British dispensing opticians. It is one of the five representative bodies that make up the

Optical Confederation The Optical Confederation is a British trade association launched in April 2010. It is said to help the optometric profession to "punch well above its weight". Lobbying is one of its key activities. It agrees on advice to opticians with the Depa ...

Arms

References

External links

ABDO

ABDO College
*https://www.optical.org/en/Education/What_to_study_and_where/ {{authority control Eye care in the United Kingdom Medical associations based in the United Kingdom British opticians Organisations based in the City of Westminster Organizations established in 1986 1986 establishments in the United Kingdom