Support for Ophthalmic Local Training

Resources to help prepare to apply for specialist registration via the Portfolio Pathway route, which confers eligibility to hold consultant posts in the NHS.

Resources for the Ophthalmic Local Training (OLT) programme can help participants and their trainers to achieve high standards of patient care and develop professional skills.

The College aims to provide useful guidance and documentation to support you through the programme. Guidance pertaining OST Curriculum 2024 will be published in the first half of 2026.

Sign up to the standards

Participating Units/Trusts should complete and submit to the College the OLT Programme Standards self-declaration form to demonstrate their commitment to the programme.

The Guide to OLT provides further guidance and should be read prior to completing the self-declaration form. It is paramount that the additional training opportunities identified for OLT participants do not have any negative impact on current OST resident doctors.

OLT Leads

Participating regions should appoint OLT Leads, who will be expected to become Portfolio Pathway assessors. Training and support will be provided for this part of the role.

Resources for OLT Programme

Documentation to support the development of the OLT Programme.

Introduction to OLT Programme (2020)

Get an overview of the purpose, processes and support for the OLT Programme.

OLT Programme Guidance (2020)

Read guidance on curriculum and assessment during training and the ePortfolio; teaching, audit, quality improvement and research in training; Generic Professional Capabilities and recruitment and support.

OLT Programme Standards

This is a self-declaration form for Units/Trusts to complete and submit to the College to demonstrate their commitment to the advised standards.

Regional OLT Lead Job Description and Person Specification

Responsible for providing advice on the Portfolio Pathway process to OLT participants and other local candidates not in the formal programme. In order to do this effectively they need to be a trained Portfolio Pathway assessor.

Unit OLT Lead Job Description and Person Specification

Work with the Clinical and Educational Supervisors in units to plan how the OLT programme fits with the future delivery of the service and the training opportunities.

Continuous cataract complications audit

Continuous cataract complications audit - synopsis template.

50 consecutive cases cataract audit guidance

It is a curriculum requirement to present a 50 consecutive cases cataract audit paper (with comparison to national standards), which must be supported by raw data. This document should be read alongside the 'Example model 50 cases cataract audit'.

Example model 50 case cataract audit

Example of how the 50 consecutive cases cataract audit should be presented.

Simulation

As a surgical-based specialty, ophthalmology encompasses a wide range of operations and clinic-based procedures, requiring ophthalmologists to make use of micro-surgical techniques. Simulation training enables trainee ophthalmologists to master these skills before in vivo training.

Find out more

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Eye to Eye Podcast

Listen to 'How to succeed in your CESR application'. In this episode, we speak with Mr Soupramanien Sandramouli, a consultant ophthalmologist in Wolverhampton and the previous CESR lead for the RCOphth.

Listen now