As the voice of the profession, we work closely with our members, partners across the eye care sector and policymakers to improve public policy so key challenges facing ophthalmology services across the UK are recognised and addressed.
Since our last policy roundup we:
Hosted a timely workshop on the future of eye care
At the end of June, we brought together representatives from across the eye care sector to develop our collective vision for how we want eye care services to look by 2030. A constructive exchange of ideas involved contributions and insights from a wide range of eye health professionals from primary and secondary eye care, policymakers, patient representatives and the independent sector.
The workshop took place only a week before a new government formed and Wes Streeting was appointed Health and Social Care Secretary. Presenting a united voice to the new government will help ensure eye care services are better supported across primary, secondary and community care. The Health Secretary has pledged to make more effective use of primary eye care capacity and continue to use independent sector capacity to reduce waiting times. We plan to publish a statement on our collective vision for eye care services to 2030 in the coming weeks.
Contacted the new health ministers
As well as publicly highlighting the challenges and opportunities facing the new government, we wrote to Wes Streeting MP, the new Health and Social Care Secretary, to offer our suggestions for and support in delivering the change needed to ensure patients receive timely, high-quality eye care. This involved reiterating the priorities outlined in our Three steps to future-proof NHS ophthalmology services publication.
We and The Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) wrote a joint letter to new Health Minister Karin Smyth MP highlighting the challenges arising from growing independent sector provision of NHS cataract procedures and offering a meeting to discuss solutions.
The Eyes Have It partnership, which includes the College along with other eye care organisations, will also shortly be writing to the new Health Secretary and his Health ministers. We will continue to call for a National Eye Care Plan to better coordinate eye care across the entire pathway.
Monitored post-election parliamentary activity
One of the ways we ensure we are fully informed of relevant political developments is by monitoring parliamentary activity daily. We were pleased to see that an MP who we worked closely with in the last Parliament, Marsha de Cordova MP, raised the challenges facing ophthalmology in the first Health and Social Care oral question session. In response, the Health and Social Care Secretary promised to meet her to discuss tackling the eye care emergency. We will also be in touch with Marsha De Cordova to offer our support.
Helped shape a global artificial intelligence (AI) conference
Following the publication of our position statement on AI in ophthalmology, The Royal College of Radiologists invited us to become a partner and shape the agenda for their inaugural Global AI Conference. Taking place in February 2025, the conference will feature key developments in ophthalmology and showcase the future of AI across healthcare. Find out more, including how you can attend and submit abstracts here.