News & Views

RCOphth held two sessions at Annual Congress 2023 in Birmingham examining the key policy priorities of ophthalmology. The first session explored the challenges and potential solutions to the ophthalmology workforce crisis - informed by an expert panel - while the second session saw the National Clinical Director for Eye Care Louisa Wickham discuss national coordination of eye care services. Both events facilitated a highly engaging discussion between panellists and the RCOphth member audience who were invited to pose questions, input with their experience and suggest solutions. These well-attended panel sessions were received by members as an opportunity for informative debate of the issues most pertinent to ophthalmology services.

Last week Members of Parliament debated the potential merits of a national eye health strategy at Westminster Hall. The debate, tabled by Marsha de Cordova MP, saw parliamentarians from across the political spectrum cite recent RCOphth statistics and explore several policy priorities advocated by the College. They discussed how an eye care strategy, supported by investment and resourcing, could help facilitate solutions to the ophthalmology capacity challenge. 

Following the independent Pyott Report which reviewed eye care services in Wales, important progress on significant investment in Welsh eye care infrastructure, including full regionalisation of services, is being made. We update on this work, which includes £150,000 funding from the Welsh Government to develop a National Clinical Strategy for Ophthalmology. This article also examines a new plan from NHS Wales to develop the health workforce and what it will mean for ophthalmology services.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists last week hosted a webinar with King’s Mill Hospital Ophthalmology Department and NHS England’s Outpatient Recovery and Transformation team to explore how ophthalmology patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) can be successfully implemented. The session, held following the publication of the King’s Mill PIFU case study and attended by almost 100 people from a range of professions, saw an expert panel deliver presentations on the role PIFU can play in increasing capacity as part of a wider set of actions, followed by an audience Q&A.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists President, Professor Bernie Chang, joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eye Health and Visual Impairment to deliver a presentation on the findings of the College’s 2022 workforce census. Joining Parliamentarians and sector leaders, Professor Chang detailed the extent of the workforce shortages in ophthalmology and the event also saw presentations from the College of Optometrists, the Association of Optometrists, and Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital about workforce challenges and solutions in their areas.

The government has responded to a report by the Health and Social Care Select Committee, agreeing that if medical school places are to be expanded ‘there would need to be the appropriate number of specialty training places subsequently made available for graduates’. With the upcoming Long Term Workforce Plan in England expected to announce increases to medical school places, this clarity is important in potentially paving the way for a much-needed expansion in ophthalmology specialty training places.

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.

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.

While health was not the central focus amid a range of important announcements on tax and spending, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement contained a positive commitment on workforce planning. RCOphth Policy Manager Jordan Marshall analyses the implications for ophthalmology.