News & Views

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists last week hosted a webinar with King’s Mill Hospital Ophthalmology Department and NHS England’s Outpatient Recovery and Transformation team to explore how ophthalmology patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) can be successfully implemented. The session, held following the publication of the King’s Mill PIFU case study and attended by almost 100 people from a range of professions, saw an expert panel deliver presentations on the role PIFU can play in increasing capacity as part of a wider set of actions, followed by an audience Q&A.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) and the ophthalmology department at King’s Mill district general hospital (DGH) collaborated on a case study detailing how King’s Mill developed its patient initiated follow up (PIFU) offering in general ophthalmology, and the impact it has had on unit capacity and patient outcomes, as part of a wider set of actions.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists President, Professor Bernie Chang, joined a panel of senior leaders from across the eye care sector at the launch of the Specsavers State of the UK’s Eye Health 2022 report. Professor Chang was joined by Dr Peter Hampson, Clinical Director, Association of Optometrists, Ross Campbell, Ophthalmic Director of RCO Ltd, Fiona Sandford, Chief Executive of Visionary and was chaired by Dr Michael Mosley, to discuss how to draw on industry expertise to improve patient outcomes.

On 22 September, the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Dr Therese Coffey, set out the Government’s plan to improve patient experience of the NHS in England, outlining a range of measures relating to backlogs, workforce challenges, and digitisation of the NHS. RCOphth Policy Advisor David Murray summarises the key implications for NHS ophthalmology services.

In this episode we speak with Julian Jackson, the founder of an independent social enterprise called Vision Bridge and a patient with Retinitis Pigmentosa himself.