RCOphth President’s latest reflection of the impact of COVID-19.

Whilst we have shut our doors at Stephenson Way temporarily, the teams of College officers and staff are still working hard on behalf of members. Here’s some of the activities we are leading on.

The UK has been experiencing a shortage of mitomycin 2mg, 10mg, 20mg vials for intravenous administration and 40mg for intravesical administration since late October 2019. Since the recall of Kyowa Kirin product in early November 2019 all Trusts have had to rely on unlicensed imports. Kyowa Kirin have withdrawn their marketing authorisation for Mitomycin-C and have no immediate plans to return to market with this product range.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists welcomes the new COVID-19 Urgent Eyecare Service specification (CUES). It provides clarity on the management of eye patients in the community.

RCOphth would like to congratulate Amy Gerrish and her co-authors from Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust for winning the Ulverscroft David Owen prize for best published paper in paediatric ophthalmology research over the last three years.

Health Education England (HEE) has expressed concern about the service pressures that trainees and in particular, young clinical academics may find themselves in during the Covid 19 emergency. HEE recognises that the available levels of supervision and support in the clinical service may not meet previously expected levels.