Lay Advisory Group

In May the College elected a new President, Professor Harminder Dua, and we are delighted that the he has followed precedent and joins us regularly; exploring and explaining topics that may be of concern to us.

Members of the Lay Group serve on all the committees of the College so the issues that we have been involved with, and on which we offer lay input, are those detailed throughout the annual report.

Members of the Lay Group were involved in the development of College's guidance on The Management of Patients with Learning Difficulties and it's publication on the website was the culmination of a great deal of work. I would like to thank all the people who worked so hard to achieve this.

During the course of the year we have heard from some of the other professions involved in eye care. An ophthalmic nurse and an ophthalmic optician gave us an introduction to their roles and gave an opportunity for the Lay Group to discuss how they should all fit together for the benefit of the patient.

The introduction of the Health and Social Care Bill is setting the scene for major changes in the NHS. The College has supported the development of a web based resource The Commissioning Guide for Eye Care and Sight Loss Services and is working with the College of Optometrists in the development of condition specific commissioning guidance. The Lay Group greatly welcomes these joint approaches.

A long standing member of the Lay Group, Mr Mike Brace, until recently chief executive of VISION 2020 UK, was made an honorary fellow of the College at the admissions ceremony in September. We would like to add our congratulations to him and note a lifetime of work in the field of sight loss, eye health and getting different people and professions together for the benefit of people with reduced vision.

We greatly appreciate the administrative support that we receive and thanks go to Penny Jagger for looking after us so well.

Derek Forbes
Chairman

MEETING DATES 2012 & 2013

Thursday 4 October, 2012

Thursday 10 January, 2013

Thursday 18 April, 2013

Thursday 18 July, 2013

Thursday 10 October, 2013

All meetings start at 11:00am

LAY ADVISORY GROUP COMMITTEE

Mr Derek Forbes, Chairman

Derek has worked for local societies for the blind for the past twenty five years. All the people he has dealt with in his work have passed through the care of an ophthalmologist. For six years he was working within local eye units as a support worker and had ophthalmologists as colleagues. He is still very curious to learn more about their work and to see what might be done to better connect the medical world of eye disease and the world of social support/rehabilitation for people with enduring sight loss. That curiosity lead him to join the Lay Advisory Group and subsequently to take the chair of the group.

Mr Tom Bremridge

Tom Bremridge retired in 2009 as CEO of the Macular Disease Society after 7 years. He helped grow the profile and capability of the Society, the largest formed patient group for visually impaired people in UK. He enjoyed frequent contact with the Royal College particularly over persuading NICE to permit the use of new treatments for wet macular degeneration (photodynamic therapy and anti VEGF injection drugs). The Society also worked with the College on awareness of Charles Bonnet Syndrome (hallucinations) and on improving patient pathways for access to specialist treatment. Tom retired from the Army in 1990 at 45 as a Brigadier. He then worked in business before joining the not for profit sector in 2002.

Mr Stuart Holland

A consultant to public health and third sector clients, currently working in regulation and supporting professional bodies in the health sector. A background in economics, politics and management.

Professor Helen Petrie

Helen Petrie is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of York. She is a cognitive psychologist by training, but now works in a Computer Science Department. For the past decade she has studied how to make mainstream technologies available to people with disabilities, and how to use technology to help people with disabilities overcome the problems they encounter in life. Much of her work has been with people with visual disabilities. She is interested in learning more about the work of ophthalmology to broaden her knowledge and to share her experiences of working with technology.

Ms Sylvia Simmons

Sylvia Simmons, an information management consultant, has worked in information services in the public, academic and not-for-profit sector 25+ years specialising in health, social and public policy. She began her career with SKILL: the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities, where she developed information, research and policy monitoring services and worked with students and lecturers experiencing visual disability during different stages of their further and higher education and working lives. Her professional interests include information ethics, information provision in the digital environment and cross-cultural perspectives on disability, which she hopes will contribute to the Lay Advisory Group's role of promoting better understanding between users and providers of ophthalmic services.

Mrs Chris Wall

With a Law degree from Durham University, Chris Wall enjoyed a career in financial & management audit and compliance within the Public Sector.

Two recent eye operations gave Chris not only an appreciation of the benefits of eye surgery and the impact on an individual’s life, but also the importance of establishing appropriate and efficient communication between Ophthalmic professionals and patients. Chris wants to support the profession both in terms of securing proper public funding for eye care, and also in encouraging continuous improvement, for the benefit of ophthalmic professionals and patients.

Rea Mattocks

Rea Mattocks is an independent consultant in the public sector. She trained as an accountant, and then as a social worker, qualifying in 1981.

She has worked as a Director of Housing and Social Services for a London Borough and a Director of Adult Social Services in a large County Council.

In 2008, she had to retire from full time work when she was diagnosed with Birdshot Chorioretinopathy, a rare, auto-immune potentially blinding form of posterior uveitis. She currently experiences diminished visual acuity. In 2009, she set up a charity (BUS – the Birdshot chorioretinopathy Uveitis Society) to support people with this rare disease, to raise its profile and to ensure that research is undertaken .

Rea was appointed a council member of a charity working with visually impaired people, BlindAid in December 2009. She is a co-optee to the Health and Social Care Scrutiny panel in her local authority. She is a non-executive Director of Peridot Ltd, an organisation that delivers bespoke solutions for recruitment and development of leaders of socially focused organisations.

LAY ADVISORY GROUP TERMS OF REFERENCE

Click Here

CONTACT THE LAY ADVISORY GROUP

If you would like to find out more about the Lay Advisory Group or to contact the Chairman please contact:

Miss Penny Jagger
PA to the President
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists
17 Cornwall Terrace
London, NW1 4QW

Tel: 020 7935 0702 Ext: 204
Fax: 020 7487 4674
Email: penny.jagger@rcophth.ac.uk

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