Caroline Hurst

Caroline graduated from Bradford University in 1977 and completed her Optometry qualification in 1978.  She practised in several practices in the London suburbs before managing a practice in Letchworth in 1984 and then opening a house practice with her husband Alan, from their home, in 1988.

​Caroline has been practising as a Behavioural Optometrist since 1997 and was Chairman of the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists (BABO) from October 2004 to September 2011. Caroline gained her Fellowship of BABO in April 2007 on the first occasion the Fellowship programme was completed. Caroline has lectured in the UK, Australia, USA, Denmark, Holland, Canada and New Zealand on binocular vision, Behavioural Optometry, Primitive Reflexes and Optometric Vision Therapy.

​Caroline was Chairman of Cambridgeshire Local Optometric Committee (1999-2007) and was involved in developing the Hinchingbrooke Direct Cataract Referral scheme, Hospital Optometrist post and Community Glaucoma monitoring scheme.  Caroline is an Optometrist with a Special Interest in Glaucoma (OSI) for Hinchingbrooke Hospital CHANGES Scheme.

Caroline was a volunteer with the first Opening Eyes programme of the Special Olympics in the UK at the National Games Cardiff 2001. She was then a volunteer at the World Games in Dublin in 2003, and at the UK National Games in Glasgow in 2005.  From September 2008 Caroline has been the Clinical Director for the Opening Eyes programme of the Special Olympics GB, and ran the screening at the SOGB National Games at Leicester in July 2009 seeing over 800 athletes in four and a half days. Caroline also ran a successful Opening Eyes screening at the SOGB National Games in Sheffield in 2017, seeing a similar number of athletes.

In 2021 Caroline stepped down from being the Special Olympics Lions Club International Opening Eyes Clinical Director for the UK. She is a founding member of the OPSIS Education Foundation.