Professional Survey

From its foundation in 1988 one of the aims of the "Standing Liaison Committee of Orthoptists within the European Community", or OCE, is to collate and to provide the European authorities as well as the individual member states with up-to-date information on the state of orthoptics in the various countries.

Since 1 May 2004 the enlargement of the European Union is a fact. It is the hope of the OCE that these files will provide a useful tool for the European orthoptists and government departments alike, regardless of their very diverse historical and cultural backgrounds.

The "Professional Survey" was drawn up and published by France from 1989 until 1997, it is updated regularly with additional data by the OCE.
This survey can be seen as a record of current professional circumstances. Ada van Mourik, Judith Clayton, Catherine Wortham, Mireille Louly and Mirjam van Poppel-van Lammeren have contributed to this professional survey.

Assessment File

In view of the implementation of the European Council Directive of 21 December 1988 facilitating free migration of orthoptists, it became apparent that more precise information would be needed regarding the legal requirements demanded in each member-country concerning orthoptic practice and training.

This information has to be accessible to:

• the competent authorities of each country, to help them reach an informed decision about applications for immigration;

• the candidates for migration, to help them to identify possible shortfalls in their curriculum vitae according to the requirements of the country they wish to migrate to.

The "Assessment-file" attempts to offer this information. It has been prepared by Mireille Louly, Chris Timms, Lyviana Hettrich, Alice van Rooy, Mirjam van Lammeren.

Code of ethics and principles of professional behaviour

The OCE realizes that a high standard of professional conduct in all orthoptists is important both for the patient and the high regard of the profession.

Therefore, the OCE publishes in this document also its Code of Ethics and offers guidelines for the practice of orthoptics in Europe. This code was prepared by Mirjam van Lammeren, Mireille Louly, Manuel Oliveira and Chris Timms.

The edition 2004 was edited by Mirjam van Poppel-van Lammeren and Mireille Louly , with the invaluable help of Verena Metzger.

Brussels - Paris, October 2004