Joining BIOS makes you part of a network of professionals with a shared interest in promoting orthoptics as well as giving you access to wide range of valuable services and resources.
We are the only professional body representing qualified Orthoptists and orthoptic assistants and technicians across the UK and Ireland.
Protection
Whatever happens in your career, BIOS membership gives you access to specialist advice, representation and services tailored to Orthoptists.
Liability Insurance: Members are provided with Medical & Professional Liability Insurance up to £2.5 million per claim (£5 million in total), together with Public Liability Insurance up to £5 million.
The bespoke insurance offered through BIOS is also the only insurance that covers the entire scope and extended scope of practice by an Orthoptist. Individual liability insurance is essential if you are seeing private patients or if you work in the Republic of Ireland.
Find out more information on our insurances from Graybrook Insurance Brokers here.
British Orthoptic Society (BOS) Trade Union
UK members are entitled to representation and advice on work matters from local BOS TU reps and Society Officers and experts including grievance and disciplinary issues, terms and conditions of employment etc.
Find our Trade Union page here.
Legal Advice: BIOS legal provides a range of legal services to members and their families, including personal injury claims and employment law advice, free simple wills, conveyancing, as well as an advice line that can cover any legal issue. At BIOS legal we also offer a free motor legal service, a criminal and regulatory service, family law service.
Our prime focus is entirely on providing exceptional legal services to BIOS members and maintaining 100% of their cost awarded by taking no deductions from their compensation.
You can find out more details about the services we provide here.
Support
As a member you have access to a network of orthoptic professionals, as well and a wide range of training and resources to support your career development.
Groups: As a member, you are entitled to join specialist groups offering support and advice to help you develop your career. Our Clinical Advisory Groups (CAGs) can help you develop your knowledge and skills on a range of orthoptic core, advanced and extended roles. There are also a number of groups providing support in non-clinical areas, such as setting up private practice or volunteering to support eye health service development globally. Each of these groups now hosts an online forum for members on our website.
You can find out more about these groups here.
CPD: BIOS and our CAGs organise a wide range of conferences, events and study days at a substantially reduced rate. You can now take advantage of the CPD Diary hosted on the website to keep record of your CPD and even print off reports for audits.
You can browse our upcoming events here.
Resources: Our website hosts a growing number of resources and publications on Orthoptics, available free to our members including presentations, templates for use in your practice, guidelines and professional competency standards.
Parallel Vision Newsletter: All our members receive a fortnightly newsletter direct to their inbox, providing the latest news and updates from across the profession.
Promotion
We look to provide a collective voice on behalf of our members, promoting the profession and giving you a voice in the discussions that affect you.
Awareness Raising: We act to promote the importance of Orthoptists to policymakers, commissioners and the public at large. We highlight the value of the work done by our members through lobbying and campaigns, social media and through our website, creating a knowledge hub for members of the public seeking information on orthoptics.
Campaigns: We campaign on the issues that matter to our members, such as vision screening for 4-5-year olds and the promotion of more Orthoptists into leadership positions.
Policy: We work on your behalf in engaging with stakeholders in government and the NHS, by responding to formal consultations and through articulating the position of our members on key issues.
You can learn more about our policy and campaigns work here.