The development of legislation to regulate the practice of optometry was given impetus by the creation of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom in the late 1940s. When the NHS was established, central professional committees were set up simultaneously to assess the applications of those who wished to be approved as service providers under the new system. In the case of the profession of optometry, some of those who applied had no formal training or qualification. They were, therefore, deemed by the central profession committees to have inadequate competence to act either as ophthalmic opticians or dispensing opticians in the United Kingdom.