Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is working together with Guide Dogs to provide blind and partially sighted people, and their families, with easy-to-access high-quality information about eye health and eye conditions.
Following fears the Special School Eye Care Service would end in March 2023, it is welcome that following pressure the evaluation of the scheme has been extended to August 2023.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists has carried out a culture initiative, exploring working relationships, ways of working and behaviours, which has generated a set of values to bind us together, underpinned by ways of working and behaviours which we feel will really help to generate an even more cohesive and collaborative environment at the College and with members. These values we aspire to are; Inclusive, Innovation, Improvement and Integrity, all with a set of behaviours that demonstrate what these mean in our day to day activities and working relationships. We are now working on meaningfully embedding these values in everything that we do.
Following joint task and finish groups convened by The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and NHS England, guidance has been published on cataract commissioning, the referral and post-operative pathways, and training in independent sector providers.
The NHS is asking patients to use services wisely during industrial action and take simple steps to help ensure care is available to patients who need it most. This includes using 111 online as the first port of call for health needs and continuing to only use 999 if it is a life-threatening emergency.
The GMC has announced that it will make initial contact with doctors by phone if they need to investigate concerns. The change is part of a series of improvements by the GMC to take a more compassionate approach to reduce the impact of investigations and the anxiety for doctors.
The RNIB has written to The Royal College of Ophthalmologists to ask for its support in helping patients to understand how the Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI) and sight impairment registration can help during the cost-of-living crisis.
Responding to the establishment of the Elective Recovery Taskforce and its focus on utilising independent sector capacity and community diagnostic centres to reduce backlogs, RCOphth stresses the need to preserve the sustainability of NHS ophthalmology services and find solutions to the long-term challenges facing the sector, particularly regarding the workforce.
The OTG has recently appointed as its new Chair Mr Hasan Naveed, representative for Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS). Mr Naveed officially took over as OTG Chair on 25 November 2022.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is pleased to announce that Professor Ben Burton has been elected as the next President. Professor Bernard Chang will officially hand over the office of President at the AGM during Congress in May 2023.
