NHS diabetic eye screening intervals have changed for people at lower risk
The NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) is now screening people with diabetes at lower risk of diabetic retinopathy every two years instead of every year.
News & Views
Read the latest RCOphth news updates and guidance here.
New study on deterioration of sight caused by delay in review or treatment
From November, this study will be added to BOSU Surveillance. We encourage all UK ophthalmologists to report cases through the BOSU email reporting system to make the data set as complete as possible, making the study more impactful.
Shortage of verteporfin (Visudyne) 15mg powder for solution for injection: update
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.
SAS ophthalmologist job plans need to encourage research
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.
SAS Doctors contribute to the work of medical royal colleges to maintain standards of patient care and development of future generations of eye doctors
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.
ePortfolio Pilot
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.
RCOphth completes Specialty Specific Guidance for New GMC Standard
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.
Physician Associates pilot scheme – October update
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.
Keeler Scholars announced
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.
Future design of special schools eye care service being consulted on
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.