Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
GMC’s annual report into workplace experiences has identified worrying trends around higher workloads, stress related absence and risk of burnout. What are the key findings, what solutions are proposed and how does this tally with what is happening in ophthalmology?
In 2019/20, there were 9 million outpatient attendances for all five vision treatment specialties1. As the leading outpatient speciality in the NHS, the appointment of Louisa Wickham to the post of National Clinical Director (NCD) for Eye Care is long overdue and welcomed.
The Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill has been passed following a Scottish Parliament debate and introduces a fireworks licensing system, with mandatory safety training, for people wishing to purchase and use fireworks.
In a recent interview with BBC Wales, Gwyn Williams warned that a ‘tide of avoidable blindness’ could sweep Wales if eye care services are not reformed. He went on to say that waits for key treatments were ‘the biggest they've ever been’.
Nearly 600,000 people were waiting for ophthalmology treatments in January 2022, the largest waiting list of all NHS specialities, and around 10 per cent of all those on the referral-to-treatment pathway.
This survey is open to SAS doctors working in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales; responses are entirely anonymous and will take 10 minutes to complete.
The National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow scheme is run by the Faculty of Medical Leadership & Management (FMLM) and places fellows at a national healthcare-affiliated host organisation for a full-time 12-month position. The scheme is designed to develop skills in leadership, management, strategy, project management, and health policy. For those of you interested in a portfolio career, this interest area is an alternative to the traditional routes of research and teaching.
This new scheme offers junior ophthalmology doctors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds the opportunity to effect positive change by being a mentor.
The RCOphth believes that everyone should be treated with respect, supported and encouraged to do their best. NHS staff, at all levels, should work in an environment and culture of learning and improving to maintain high standards of patient care.
We asked Professor Peter Shah (BSc (Hons), MB ChB, FRCOphth, FRCP Edin, MA (Distinction), Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Institute for Glaucoma Research, Institute of Translational Medicine, UHB. Visiting Professor at University College London, Honorary Professor of Glaucoma, Centre for Health & Social Care Improvement, University of Wolverhampton and President of the UK and Eire Glaucoma Society, to write a piece for the college for World Glaucoma Week.
