Standards and guidance

Our range of high-quality guidance helps to maintain standards in the planning, practice and commissioning of patient care. Our clinical guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations across all aspect of care or of eye conditions; Concise Practice Points make recommendations for less frequent and targeted clinical situations, succinctly describing the scientific and clinical evidence alongside expert input to enhance clinician and patient decision making. Our Commissioning guidance supports eye units to develop services to meet local population needs.

The Way Forward

The increasing demand for hospital eye services (HES) is not being met and continues to grow – currently seeing nearly 10% of all outpatient appointments and performing 6% of the surgery in the UK. The Way Forward was commissioned by The Royal College of Ophthalmologists to identify current methods of working and schemes devised by ophthalmology departments in the UK to help meet the increasing demand in ophthalmic services. The information aims to offer a helpful resource for ophthalmologists who are seeking to develop their services to meet capacity needs.

Ophthalmic Instrument Decontamination

Medical Devices are all the products, except drugs, used in health care for diagnosis, prevention, monitoring or treatment. The list is enormous, ranging from tonometers and slit lamps, through surgical instruments to hospital beds and MRI scanners. This document will concentrate on products which are particularly important to, or specific for, ophthalmology.

Clinical Audit and Clinical Effectiveness in Ophthalmology 2016

All doctors have a duty to understand, and participate in delivering quality, safety and clinical governance in modern healthcare as described in the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Good Medical Practice Domain 2. This document aims to provide a simple overview of the principles and practice of clinical effectiveness and clinical audit for ophthalmologists.

RCOphth Three Step Plan

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists published the Three Step Plan in 2016 in response to the continued demand and lack of capacity in ophthalmology services.

Corneal Cross-linking Data Set 2016

This document describes a proposed data set for corneal cross-linking (CXL). The data set has been composed by a working group of the UK CXL Consortium, comprising a representative selection of experts in the management of keratoconus and related corneal ectasias working in a variety of healthcare and academic environments across the UK.

Commissioning Guide for Glaucoma 2016

This guidance is a resource to assist commissioners, clinicians and managers deliver high quality and evidence and outcome-based glaucoma services across England and beyond.

Quality standard for people with sight loss and dementia in an ophthalmology department 2015

Many patients who attend ophthalmology departments also have dementia. This quality standard has been developed to help ophthalmology departments provide high quality care for these patients. It addresses staff training, support to participate in decisions about care, the design of clinical areas, waiting times and appointment durations, provision of information, assessment of vision and referral for support.

Eye Care for Adults with Learning Disabilities 2015

This ophthalmic service guidance provides advice on how to appropriately design services so that they are suitable for patients with learning disabilities and highlights some solutions to the difficulties that a service will need to overcome.

Macular Hole Data Set 2015

This document describes a proposed data set for macular hole surgery. The data set has been composed by a subcommittee of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Informatics and Audit Sub-committee, comprising a representative selection of experts in vitreoretinal surgery working in different healthcare environments across the UK.