Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is delighted to share the news that Professor Giuliana Silvestri, has been honoured with a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the first of the King's Birthday Honours list 2023.
To support the launch of our new digital reporting system and the expansion of the surveillance system to include trainees for the first time the BOSU is offering a research bursary of £6000 to support an ophthalmologist in training to undertake an epidemiological study of a rare eye condition through the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit.
Following representations by RCOphth and other organisations, the government has taken the welcome step of confirming that sight testing will be expanded to all special schools from 2024/25.
This week (19 – 23 June) is Clinical Audit Awareness Week, a national annual campaign that promotes and celebrates the impact of clinical audits in healthcare. RCOphth runs the world renowned National Ophthalmology Database Audit and is recognised by clinicians, NICE, GIRFT and industry as an important safety and research tool that is used to audit the treatment of cataracts and recently has added the potentially blinding disease of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to its work.
RCOphth would like to congratulate Dr Ian MacCormick, clinical lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, and his senior author Simon Harding from the University of Liverpool, for winning the Ulverscroft David Owen prize for the best-published paper titled: “How does blood-retinal barrier breakdown relate to death and disability in pediatric cerebral malaria?”
The two-day online Ukrainian Ophthalmological Congress "You must see your childhood' 23" was a success. More than 7,000 Ukrainian medical professionals, including ophthalmologists, paediatric ophthalmologists, optometrists, and medical professionals from other disciplines, had the chance to interact, hear lectures, and participate in master sessions.
The journal Eye will host a global theme in its 2023 issue, "Global Eye Health". We invite all investigators to submit their best population-based research addressing the causes of vision impairment and blindness. Subjects may range from prevention, diagnosis, genetic epidemiology and screening for eye disease to intervention strategies covering treatment an economic analyses.
The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV has issued a clinical alert addressing syphilis. The President of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV has contacted the RCOphth and asked us to share this information with our members
Jugnoo Rahi, RCOphth Chair Academic Sub-committee, joins 12 other Fellows working within ophthalmology and vision sciences who have been elected since the Academy was founded 25 years ago. As well as being the first female ophthalmologist to be elected a Fellow, she is the first to be both a paediatric ophthalmologist and epidemiologist.
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.
