News & Views

NHS England (NHSE) has published Eyecare Planning & Implementation guidance for this financial year (2021-2022). The guidance is for NHS Regions, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) moving to Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), and NHS Trusts (hospital eye services). Read the Eye Care Planning Implementation Guidance 2021-22 Summary Annexe.  This new guidance is an annexe to NHS England’s main 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance already published in March 2021.

The Cataract Services Workforce Guidance March 2021 includes a RCOphth cataract workforce calculator tool Mar2021 to support workforce planning to meet demand. 

We asked Professor Peter Shah (BSc (Hons), MB ChB, FRCOphth, FRCP Edin, MA (Distinction), Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Institute for Glaucoma Research, Institute of Translational Medicine, UHB. Visiting Professor at University College London, Honorary Professor of Glaucoma, Centre for Health & Social Care Improvement, University of Wolverhampton and President of the UK and Eire Glaucoma Society, to write a piece for the college for World Glaucoma Week. 

The first of a series of a series of webinars about The Eye Care Digital Playbook was held on Monday 1st March. These webinars, held jointly between NHSX and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, will look at how the eye care playbook can improve patient experience and directly help clinicians support their patients. 

Read a letter to the profession, signed by the four UK CMOs, Steve Powis, Nikki Kanani, Colin Melville from the GMC and Helen Stokes-Lampard on supporting doctors throughout the pandemic.

In this episode we speak with Kavita Aggarwal, an Ophthalmology Trainee from Oxford. She talks about wellbeing, how to stay healthy during the latest lockdown and provides some top tips on how to avoid burnout.

This consultation seeks views on the proposed RCOphth Cataract Workforce Guidance. The guidance is accompanied by a workforce calculator to enable accurate planning in the context of local pathways and staffing.

The new guidance document ‘Mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on Ophthalmologists in Training’ provides recommendations for both trainers and ophthalmologists in training to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the training programme.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists recognises that reduced access to cataract surgical training opportunities, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is impacting on the surgical experience of our ophthalmologists in training.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, along with the Statutory Education Bodies in all four nations, recognise the huge pressures on the NHS in these difficult times and that healthcare professionals have worked tirelessly to ensure that the best possible care continues to be delivered to our patients.