Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
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.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has responded to a Health Education England (HEE) call for evidence to make the case for investment in the ophthalmology workforce to meet rapidly rising patient demand.
Are you an experienced consultant? What do you now wish you had known when you first qualified? We’d like to hear your ‘Top tips’. We’re asking experienced consultants to share one piece of advice with new consultants as we open bookings for our training course for new consultants.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is delighted to announce the opening of the Ulverscroft David Owen Award 2022, a continuation of the Ulverscroft David Owen Awards.
We’ve updated our Ophthalmic Service Guidance for paediatric ophthalmology! Our 2021 guidance represents the expert consensus, based on available evidence and national guidance, of the Paediatric Sub-committee of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth).
In the Annual Report 2020, Bernie Chang, President of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) praises the commitment shown by all ophthalmologists who battled daily to deliver eye care services for patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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.
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 College has been made aware that the manufacturers of Visudyne (verteporfin) are experiencing significant production delays and new stocks of Visudyne will not be available for the UK market until early 2022. Due to the low volume of circulating stock of Visudyne in the UK the Department of Health and Social Care has made the decision to divert the remaining stock to the national ophthalmic oncology centres.
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.
