Blinded by an Ofsted inspection

Introduction The Association of Health Professions in Ophthalmology (AHPO) is a charity, whose objectives are to promote the practice, education, training and research in ophthalmology and vision science in the UK. The extraordinary developments in diagnostic equipment and technologies have...

The work of BIPOSA

The British and Irish Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Association (BIPOSA) was set up in 2008 to merge two streams of ophthalmology, namely the practice of paediatric ophthalmology and the practice of strabismus (to include refracting in children, and strabismus in...

The work of RNIB and ECLOs

With more than 2,000,000 people in the UK living with some degree of sight loss and over 300,000 registered as blind or partially sighted, it is important for anyone living with sight loss to know they’re not alone. At what...

Observership in Dar es Salaam

In this report, both authors present their personal experiences of an observership at the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) Hospital, a large regional teaching hospital located in Dar es Salaam, with a particular focus on resource management, attitudes...

Bosch-Boonstro-Schaaff optic atrophy syndrome (BBSOAS) NR2F1 mutation

An experienced ophthalmologist can make an anatomical diagnosis of childhood visual impairment based upon the surgical sieve, i.e., congenital and acquired. But an ophthalmologist cannot work in isolation to make an aetiological diagnosis – one would require the help of...

A novel integrated practice unit (IPU) approach to periocular skin cancer management

The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges to face NHS workers. However, history has repeatedly shown that times of difficulty can result in the development of significant social and technological advances. We describe our own experience of this...

Vitreous loss fire drills – ophthalmic simulation improves trainee surgical competence and confidence with posterior capsule rupture scenarios

Ophthalmic trainees have reported limited exposure and low confidence regarding the management of cataract complications such as posterior capsule rupture (PCR) / vitreous loss (VL). This report evaluates the impact of a simulation-based educational training event on these concerns. Introduction...

Update on emerging therapies for age-related macular degeneration

The 23rd European Society of Retina Specialists (EURETINA) Congress, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, provided a timely update on anti-complement therapy for geographic atrophy and emerging investigational therapies for neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Anti-complement therapy for geographic atrophy Geographic atrophy...

My top five: A foundation doctor’s top five misconceptions about ophthalmology

Choosing a specialty is challenging. As a foundation doctor, it often feels as if this choice is based solely on fleeting experiences. Compared to other specialties, there is relatively little exposure to ophthalmology during either medical school or foundation years....

From novice to overnight on-calls: developing an ophthalmology bootcamp to ease the learning curve for new trainees

Introduction My first ophthalmology on-call was nine years ago and it was a fairly traumatic experience. I was an FY2 in a Welsh district general hospital and I was on my own – at least, that’s how it felt to...

A case of retinal cavernous haemangioma – don’t let it slip through the grapevine

We present a case of a seven-year-old male who presented to the emergency eye referral clinic with red eye. He was diagnosed and treated for allergic conjunctivitis, however, on clinic review, wide field retinal imaging was performed (as has been...

Glaucoma: 30 years on

Back in 1993, the late and great Barry Cullen FRCS (Cavan born, Dublin trained), the first editor of Eye News, asked me to write an article about the current treatment of chronic open angle glaucoma (COAG). At the time I...