News & Views

The College has today launched a new free resource sharing and signposting artificial intelligence as medical device (AIaMD) tools for use in ophthalmology.

Number of people with glaucoma, AMD and cataracts set to increase over the next 10 years. This new online tool will be a critical planning resource for commissioners and providers of eye health care.

The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit (BOSU) is set to launch the first UK-wide epidemiological survey on adult gonococcal conjunctivitis at the start of 2025.

This new feature allows consultants to download a certificate showing their participation in BOSU surveillance as evidence for appraisals and revalidation.

More than 600 ophthalmologists in training took part in this year’s General Medical Council (GMC) National Training Survey, reporting they rate the quality of their training very highly but that they have concerns about burnout and over access to training opportunities in the independent sector.

You can now access our newly published clinical dataset for glaucoma procedures, which defines the agreed key information that should be routinely collected for all patients undergoing surgical or laser intraocular pressure lowering procedures.

The safety of cataract surgery in the UK is continuing to improve, results from the latest National Ophthalmology Database (NOD) audit – published today – show. Data gathered from 177 centres over a 12-month period to 31 March 2023 indicate that fewer than 1 in 200 patients experience substantial reduction in vision following cataract surgery. The major complication of surgery (posterior capsule rupture or PCR) is occurring in less than 1% of operations.

We are encouraging members to take part in the NHSE outcomes and registries programme, a single registry of implantable devices. We have been working closely with NHSE to provide clinical leadership as the programme develops. 

As the latest National Ophthalmology Audit (NOD) age-related macular degeneration (AMD) audit report is published, its clinical lead, Martin McKibbin, is encouraging more ophthalmology services to take part in future audits so that more data on the care pathway is available and treatment outcomes can be standardised.

Contributing surgeons and centres are invited to validate their cataract audit data on the RCOphth NOD audit website by 25 March 2024.