News & Views

This excellent guidance will help ophthalmologists answer questions they may have when presented with patients with low vision needs, such as “Which patients should be referred to low vision services?”, or “Is there a level of visual acuity below which a patient should be referred?” As in referral for cataract surgery, it depends on the functional vision of the patient, and their visual requirements for daily living.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has developed Age Related Macular Degeneration Commissioning Guidance June 2021. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has accredited the process used by The Royal College of Ophthalmologists to develop this guidance. It sets out the principles and minimum standards of care for AMD to decrease variations of care across AMD services in England and Wales.

The updated guidance on supporting information for revalidation from the GM allows increased flexibility for gathering appropriate patient feedback to make it easier for patients from a doctor’s whole scope of work to give feedback and for the doctor to meaningfully reflect on the results.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists has committed to a three year project to develop an AMD national audit, supported by funding from the Macular Society for the first six months.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is calling for applications for membership of the new national Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Audit Advisory Group.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is responding to the NICE rapid guideline on COVID-19 testing and the potential adverse effect on the return to routine cataract surgery.

Remote consultations have been given additional impetus by the COVID-19 emergency and are almost certainly one of the changes in practice that is here to stay. The advantages for the patient in terms of access are obvious, and video meeting platforms are now part of our daily lives.

The RCOphth and CoO have updated guidance on the use of NCT based on new evidence showing there is a low likelihood of viral particles in the tears and conjunctiva, even in those with active COVID-19 infection or conjunctivitis.

The National Insitute of Health Research (NIHR) has set out a framework to guide the restarting of NIHR research activities which have been paused due to COVID-19.

The RCOphth’s first podcast is relaunching on 6 January 2020 with a year of monthly podcast episodes. This new series follows the successful pilot series in 2019, created in collaboration with the College’s Ophthalmologists in Training Group (OTG).