Committees and groups

The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit (BOSU) is  a system for national collection of data on rare and important disorders to support research, prevention and epidemiological assessment of ophthalmic disorders across the UK. The unit aims to facilitate research for the advancement of knowledge and improvement of the prevention, treatment and service planning of these disorders.t  The Steering Committee guides the work of the unit.

The Education Committee aims to enhance the career development of ophthalmologists, aspiring ophthalmologists, and eyecare professionals by providing structured materials and resources (including awards and scholarships) to supplement specialist and transferable skills. The Committee is responsible for strategic planning of events, courses, and resources that support the professional development of College members, taking into account their diversity, needs and preferences.

The committee’s main activities include:

• Defining and delivering a structured programme of professional development resources that meets the needs of those working in the specialty.
• Providing value to College members by designing and delivering a programme of events and resources that aligns with their stated needs and preferences. This includes: Clinical skills, leadership, management and teaching skills as well as career transitions such as new consultants or those taking on new roles. Thesee activities are delivered through a breadth of delivery approaches, such as:
• Events at Congress
• Face-to-face group events
• Online courses and seminars
• A library of online resources and training materials.
• Overseeing planning and delivery of the College’s Annual Congress
• Overseeing and administering College awards and scholarships

The Education Committee is a standing committee. The following subcommittees report to it:

• Courses and Events Subcommittee
• Digital Learning Subcommittee

The Examinations Committee is made up of College Officers, Senior Examiners, Council Members, a trainee representative, a SAS representative, a lay representative and other Fellows of the College (by secondment).

The committee’s main activities include:

• Overseeing the College exams through scrutiny of the psychometric reports, quality assurance reports and results
•  Appointing new examiners, ensuring a balanced pool of examiners
•  Guiding the running of the exams through relevant policies
• Maintaining the appropriate standards and communication with the GMC.

The following sub committees/working groups report to the Examinations
Committee:

• CertLRS
• Duke Elder
• Part 1
• Part 2

The Finance, Audit and Risk Committee provides a monitoring and specialist advice function for the Board of Trustees as part of their legal obligations. It is responsible for reviewing periodic financial reports, monitoring accountancy practices and the preparations for regular audits, and reviewing risk monitoring.

The committee’s activities include:

• Ensuring best practice in financial management through monthly monitoring of financial reporting across the College and reviewing and interrogating the financial position of the College every quarter as part of submitting written reports with observations and recommendations to the Board of Trustees.
• Ensuring that the College’s financial policies are effective and working well through monitoring expenditure and recommending revisions or updates to policies to Trustees when appropriate.
• Ensuring the College presents itself competently for audit and external scrutiny.
• Ensuring risk management processes are working well.

The Policy Committee provides strategic oversight, guidance, and direction on policy development and public affairs to help enable the College to meet its strategic aim of realising change through our leadership voice.

The committee’s main activities include:

•  Informing the development and approval of the Policy and Public Affairs strategy, alongside the policy priorities and workstreams which underpin the strategy.
• Reviewing and endorsing consultation responses and policy publications.
• Ensuring policy positions are evidence-based, aligning with the College’s values.
• Enabling member engagement in policy development.
•  Contributing to the evaluation of the impact of policy and public affairs activities.

The Quality, Audit and Standards Committee sets, maintains and improves standards of safe and high-quality ophthalmic care in the UK. The committee supports professionals to improve their services and highlight the resources needed to deliver safe ophthalmic care. The committee’s activities are driven by patient need and the desire to facilitate the best possible care for ophthalmic patients.

The committee’s main activities include:

• Supporting members and stakeholders in the delivery of high-quality ophthalmology services for patients in the UK through the development and dissemination of RCOphth standards and guidance or advice, and support other organisations in producing their own in the areas of:
  • ophthalmic and eye care service delivery.
  • care for specific groups of disorders or for specific groups of patients, in conjunction with the scientific and research committee.
  • non-clinical /professional areas of ophthalmic service such as leadership and management, revalidation etc.
• Identifying and determining which national clinical audits are required and their prioritisation, together with making recommendations based on the results of such audits.
• Overseeing the delivery and development of the National Ophthalmology Database.
• Supporting stakeholders to implement guidance and make improvements to ophthalmic service provision by providing advice on relevant standards, how to implement them and how to assess adherence through the RCOphth review service.
• Maintaining active links and communication with key stakeholders including patients, other professions (clinical, managerial, commissioner) and national bodies such as healthcare regulators, to ensure the College inputs into the relevant external guidance and regulatory activities.

For more information contact [email protected].

The following groups report to the Quality, Audit and Standards Committee:
• NOD/AMD project working groups
• Informatics Working Group
• Healthcare Resource Group
• Short life guideline development groups as required by the QSC workplan

The committee sets best practice for recruitment and remuneration, and associated terms and conditions of employment for all staff. It is responsible for setting and reviewing the College’s pay policy such that renumeration is fair, competitive, and financially sustainable.

Its main objectives include:

• Overseeing recruitment processes within the College, setting standards for consistency and fairness, through standardised criteria and advertising.
• Drawing on data from the annual board effectiveness evaluation, alongside other sources of information, to ensure that committee appointments address gaps in skills or experience.
• Providing fair and rigorous assessments of all salary review requests such that pay decisions are made consistently and are sustainable within the College’s finances.
• Ensures the College can attract, retain and motivate suitably qualified staff by setting the College’s pay policy and remuneration system relative, using available resources and external benchmarks within the constraints of the College’s finances.

The College Staff and Associate Specialist committee are members of the College who work in the SAS grade to represent SAS doctors. The committee represents SAS doctors on a wide range of leading committees including the College council, Education, Training, Research and externally for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

The committee’s main activities include:

• Representing Staff and Associate Specialist (SAS) ophthalmologists’ opinions to the College.
•  Disseminating information on College matters to SAS members.
• Supporting SAS ophthalmologists in their professional roles and their professional development.
•  Enhancing SAS ophthalmologists’ contribution to ophthalmology.

The Scientific & Research Committee aims to promote science and research in ophthalmology and to actively promote excellence in patient care though evidence-based ophthalmology and the translation of research into innovation in clinical practice.

Its main activities include:

• Supporting dissemination through the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit, RCOphth academic journals and other College educational activities.
• Ensuring advances and innovations in ophthalmology care are evidence-based, advising NICE (National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence) and other national bodies on technology appraisals and other guidance, as well as overseeing the clinical guideline and concise practice point development from the RCOphth via the guidelines sub-committee.
• Advancing academic ophthalmology as a subspecialty, championing inclusion of the academic workforce in workforce planning, assisting access to opportunities for academic ophthalmology training and adherence to national guidance on academic medicine and signposting to useful resources.
• Profiling academic ophthalmology externally through good working relationships with other academic institutions and funding bodies including UKRI, Welcome Trust, NIHR, Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges

The Scientific and Research Committee is a Standing Committee, and the following Committees report to it:
• British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit
• Clinical Guidelines
• Eye Editorial Board
• Paediatric

The Training Committee ensures delivery of all aspects of training for the ophthalmic community so that patients are treated by safe, competent and compassionate doctors. It promotes excellence in training and working collaboratively with different stakeholders such as the GMC, Heads of School, Training Programme Directors, Deaneries and Resident Doctors.

The committee’s main activities include:

• Developing, publishing and reviewing the College’s Ophthalmic Training Curriculum in conjunction with the Curriculum Subcommittee.
• Monitoring standards of delivery of ophthalmic training and supporting trainers and resident doctors by listening to feedback and support.
• Promoting the design and delivery of sustainable eyecare as part of the resources and standards that the committee publishes.
• Developing, reviewing and managing the ePortfolio for resident doctors by providing an ePortfolio that can record all aspects of training and managing the annual ARCP process.
• Co-ordinating, delivering and evaluating national recruitment in ophthalmology by working in partnership with NHSE (Severn Deanery).
• Quality assuring the conclusion of training of resident doctors by reviewing all trainees’ applications for the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and making appropriate recommendations to the GMC.
• Making recommendations to the GMC on applications for Specialist Registration under the Portfolio Pathway.
• Developing, reviewing and running skills courses for the ophthalmic community by working in partnership with the skills faculty.
• Embedding simulation and training by developing a strategy not just for practical and surgical training but including communication and immersive team simulation.
• Overseeing the design and delivery of Ophthalmic Local Training (OLT).
• Managing and developing the Course Accreditation process.

The following groups report to the Training Committee:

• Portfolio Pathway subcommittee
• International Medical Graduates (IMG) subcommittee
• Ophthal Recruitment subcommittee
• Skills & Simulation subcommittee
• Curriculum subcommittee

The Lay Advisory Group (LAG) is set up to:

• support the College in the advancement of the science and practice of ophthalmology;
• represent lay opinion to the College.

The group consists of a maximum of fifteen people, with up to ten lay members, the RCOphth President, up to three members nominated from the Council and the Chief Executive.

At least two of the lay members will have experience as a patient with a chronic eye condition or caring responsibilities for a patient with a chronic eye condition.

A lay member cannot be currently employed in an allied ophthalmic profession or be employed in a company that produces ophthalmic instruments or ophthalmic pharmaceutical items. A person who is, or has been, an ophthalmologist cannot be a lay member.

The LAG Chair is a co-opted member of Council.

The group’s activities include:

• To meet three times a year to discuss and offer advice to College officers on issues which directly affect patients.
• To review College documents as appropriate.
• To assist in the creation of patient information produced by the College with a view to making these more useful to the general public.
• To consider the effect of actual or proposed government policy on the delivery of ophthalmic care.

The Membership Working Group is responsible for dealing with membership related issues.  Working across the RCOphth, it reviews opportunities to assess issues of retention and increasing membership as well as improving member benefits. The Group reports to the College Council. The group is led by Andrew Lotery.

The Membership Working Group is responsible for:

• Reviewing and clarifying eligibility criteria for all membership categories
• Considering additional benefits and services that can be offered to members
• Contributing to the strategic objectives with regards to membership.

For more information on joining or about your existing membership, email [email protected].

The Ophthalmologists in Training Group (OTG) represents the voice and interests of ophthalmologists in training and is influential in all aspects of the College with members that sit on all standing committees and Council.  It is represented on the Academy Trainee’s Group of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. Members are registrars elected on a regional basis for a two-year term of office and eligible to stand for re-election for one further two-year terms.

If you wish to contact the OTG for information, advice or to raise issues for College-wide discussion, please email the [email protected].

OTG Terms of reference