The RCOphth Review Service is a dedicated resource to support organisations and clinical teams to make improvements to the services they deliver and resolve concerns regarding quality, efficiency and patient care in ophthalmology services.
The primary aim of our service is supportive to help departments identify key challenges for delivery, benchmark the service against other ophthalmology units, College and NICE guidelines and also to raise awareness to help deliver a high quality service for the local population. This is best done before the service reaches crisis point.
The objective, balanced, professional and discrete manner in which the team conducted their process was very helpful in identifying key issues and focussing the attention and further support mechanisms within the trust…. The team here are now facing the future with a renewed sense of team-spirit and cohesion, a more effective clinical environment for our patients, and a more enjoyable place to work for our staff.
Our review team is a multidisciplinary team comprising of ophthalmologists supported by nursing and lay members based on the needs of the service asking for a review. We are not regulators, and our reviews are designed to be supportive and collaborative with our clients.
Our primary purpose is to ensure patient safety and improve patient care through better clinical quality and efficiency. We are in a unique position to assist organisations both NHS and Independent sector providers based on their challenges. If needed in addition to the colleagues mentioned above we are empowered to get , orthoptists, optometrists and managers who are knowledgeable about ophthalmic standards and the range of service models across the UK.
We offer a range of services including remote health records and document assessments, assessments of surgical performance and team visits. Our reviews are bespoke to your needs and can be conducted over one or more days to assess specific areas of practice or provide a more in depth whole service analysis.
What we can offer you
- Centrally managed liaison and communication
- Consistent approach, but tailored to the individual situation
- Agreed clear terms of reference and detailed information on process
- Experienced specialist reviewers who can provide assurance, perspective and breadth of knowledge
- Clear timescales for report delivery
- Quality assurance
- Links to extensive data, information, expertise and advice from the RCOphth, including policy and specialist clinical comment
- All-inclusive single costing covers fees, expenses and administration
Download our guide to the review service
Examples of why clients request our external review service
- Concerns over managing high demand and improving productivity
- A desire for independent critique of a proposed model of care AND service design
- A ‘health check’ on quality and effectiveness of service
- Concerns around the team working)
- Wanting to improve links between acute and community teams
- An assessment of compliance with recognised standards and benchmark with other services
- Exploring new models of care and skill mix to improve outcomes and reduce costs
- Issues arising from a regulator inspection
- Ophthalmology department/service performance gives cause for concern
- Quality and safety concerns such as a cluster of cases of post-operative endophthalmitis, an unexpectedly high rate of postoperative complications or poor outcomes, a run of patient safety incidents or never events
Get in touch in confidence
Healthcare organisations (usually the Clinical Lead, Medical Director or Chief Executive), commissioners or regulators can informally discuss in confidence how our reviews team may be able to help.
Contact: Jonathan Baker, Quality Improvement Manager [email protected] or 020 3770 5331