News & Views

Dr Abdus Samad Ansari, Academic Clinical Fellow at King’s College London, is investigating the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and healthy ageing within the eye. Mitochondria are the powerhouse of cells, creating energy to maintain life. Their disruption, through depletion or variation in function, is thought to be involved in the susceptibility of an individual to develop glaucoma. Utilising the TwinsUK Cohort, Dr Ansari will be one of the first to examine mitochondrial dysfunction in a healthy population over time.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) and the ophthalmology department at King’s Mill district general hospital (DGH) collaborated on a case study detailing how King’s Mill developed its patient initiated follow up (PIFU) offering in general ophthalmology, and the impact it has had on unit capacity and patient outcomes, as part of a wider set of actions.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has today published the results of its 2022 workforce census, highlighting the scale of staff shortages in NHS ophthalmology services and how they will continue to worsen over the coming years without immediate action. The report also finds increasing concerns regarding the impact of independent sector providers (private companies undertaking NHS-funded services) delivering NHS ophthalmology care.

Ophthalmologists affected by taxation on NHS pensions will be pleased by the government’s announcement of changes to the Lifetime and Annual Allowance, directly aimed at preventing more NHS doctors retiring early or reducing hours. The government also reconfirmed it will shortly be publishing its long term NHS workforce plan.

An annual survey into workplace medical training across the UK includes questions on doctors’ experiences of discrimination for the first time this year. From today (Tuesday 21 March 2023), doctors are being urged to share their perspectives on topics across learning, support and supervision in the General Medical Council (GMC)’s yearly National training survey.

This month the BOSU is launching a new digital system that will replace the monthly yellow cards and postal questionnaires with an integrated email and online surveillance system.

RCOphth welcomes the recommendations from the Public Accounts Committee inquiry report ‘Managing NHS backlogs & waiting times in England’ as a positive step in focusing efforts to tackle backlogs, especially where the Committee has taken on board evidence from our submission. This article summarises key recommendations from the report and their relevance for ophthalmology services, while outlining what further measures the College believes are needed to bring down ophthalmology backlogs.