Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
Verteporfin has been in short supply globally since late 2020 due to capacity constraints at the manufacturing site and has been restricted for use solely in ocular cancer centres in the UK.
The Academic, Research and Innovation Subcommittee of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists would like to draw your attention to two documents issued recently, regarding guidance on Specialty and Specialist Doctor Ophthalmologists Job Plans.
As the demand of patient care and backlogs continue to put pressure on trusts and eye care units, a consequence is the difficulty in medical royal colleges being able to maintain high standards and resources to assess, examine, educate and train future generations of ophthalmologists and eye care professionals to deliver comprehensive care to patients safely and in a timely way. These responsibilities are incorporated into the charter of royal colleges.
The Ophthalmic Specialist Training (OST) Project Board is overseeing the ePortfolio Pilot Programme which started on 28 September with a fantastic face-to-face testing event at the College. This was the first time that the new ePortfolio had been experienced by any of our trainees or supervisors.
From Thursday 30 November, the standard that CESR applications are assessed against will change from Equivalence to CCT to Knowledge, Skills, and Experience (KSE), required for practising as an eligible specialist in the UK. The process will change from CESR and will be known as the Portfolio Route.
The College is undertaking a pilot scheme to determine whether Physician Associates (Pas) are an appropriately skilled and financially appropriate addition to the ophthalmic workforce.
The Keeler Scholarship 2022 has been jointly awarded to Jared Ching and Arthur Okonkwo. The biennial award, sponsored by Keeler Limited, is made to College fellows, members or affiliates to enable them to study, research or acquire special skills, knowledge or experience to benefit ophthalmology in the UK.
Following the welcome announcement in June 2023 that sight testing will be expanded to all special schools in England from 2024, NHS England is now consulting on the future design of this rollout.
Gordon Cropper, who was a former member of our Board of Trustees, died in early September. Prior to becoming a Lay Trustee, Gordon was a member of the Lay Advisory Group and was a dedicated and valued member of both our Training Committee and National Recruitment Subcommittee.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (formerly Public Health England) has published a refreshed Vision profile detailing eye health data up to 2021/22. This updated profile provides a useful tool for clinicians to compare patient profiles and unit performance across a range of metrics, compare that to regional and national data and potentially make the case for the appropriate resourcing of their ophthalmology services.
