Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
As 240 new Fellows were welcomed to The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) today, President Bernie Chang paid tribute to their resilience in pursuing their training whilst also stepping up to care for patients and support NHS colleagues during the pandemic.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has welcomed the announcement that the NHS in England will receive an extra £5.4 billion over the next six months to support its response to COVID-19 and help tackle waiting lists. This includes £1.5 billion to manage the elective surgery backlog (including £500 million capital funding), with delays to cataract surgery identified by government as a particular concern.
This new ‘Vision Atlas’ represents the first Public Health England (PHE) output solely focused on eye health. Ophthalmology is the largest outpatient specialty in England. The atlas shows there were 9 million outpatient attendances for vision in 2019/20.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) and The College of Optometrists are issuing interim recommendations on routine cataract care to help rapidly increase hospital capacity to see patients with urgent, complex or sight threatening disease.
The first of a series of a series of webinars about The Eye Care Digital Playbook was held on Monday 1st March. These webinars, held jointly between NHSX and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, will look at how the eye care playbook can improve patient experience and directly help clinicians support their patients.
We are republishing the statement from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges on the COVID-19 Vaccination and second doses.
Read a letter to the profession, signed by the four UK CMOs, Steve Powis, Nikki Kanani, Colin Melville from the GMC and Helen Stokes-Lampard on supporting doctors throughout the pandemic.
COVID-19 has led to a national lockdown in the New Year with increased infection rates putting immense pressure on frontline services which has meant the redeployment of ophthalmic staff, including ophthalmologists in training is already taking place.
As we enter into 2021, there is some light of optimism and hope at the end of what has been for many a long dark tunnel.
The new guidance document ‘Mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on Ophthalmologists in Training’ provides recommendations for both trainers and ophthalmologists in training to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the training programme.
