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Changing the post cataract surgery review pathway – is patient safety compromised?

Cataract surgery continues to be the most commonly performed elective surgical procedure in the UK, with an annual rate of approximately 4150/100,000 people over the age of 65 accounting for a significant proportion of the surgical workload of most ophthalmologists...

Urban Changes and Rural Struggles for Ophthalmology in China

China is by far the most populated country in the world, with over 1.3 billion inhabitants. It is also the country with the highest number of blind and visually impaired people. As a developing country, half of China’s population lives...

Unconscious bias (part 2)

Does unconscious bias exist, and does training help to reduce discriminatory behaviour? Clare Inkster questions her role as a trainer. I read Gwyn Williams’ Learning Curve article on this topic a few months ago with interest, and as someone who...

Redeployment during the COVID-19 pandemic: personal accounts from four ophthalmology trainees

We once believed that the coronavirus would not penetrate the safe confines of the United Kingdom, like so many outbreaks before this. Once the news came that this pandemic descended into our hospitals, the anxieties about redeployment began. Many of...

Post-Brexit deal welcomed but leaves future relationship with EU far from settled

Rod McNeil breaks down the impact of the Brexit deal on healthcare in the UK, including medicines regulation, research funding, sharing of information and the ability to work abroad. A disorderly no-deal exit from the European Union (EU) was averted...

Working smarter not harder: How to transform eyecare delivery in the United Kingdom (part 2)

Are we doing enough to meet the current demands on ophthalmic services? In part two of a two-part series (see Part 1 here), Rosalind Harrison explains how efficiency can be improved by setting up eye services in community hubs. The...

Artificial intelligence in eyecare: how do we ensure new technologies truly benefit our patients?

From monitoring patients with heart disease to improving the early diagnosis of cancer, artificial intelligence (AI) using deep learning techniques is already employed in many different healthcare specialties [1]. In the eyecare field, AI technologies have been used to analyse...

Modern practice options for UK ophthalmologists

When I spoke on setting up private practice at the annual United Kingdom & Ireland Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (UKISCRS) meeting in November ’23 there was a lot of interest in different types of practice models. If we...

Simulating the visual impairment symptoms of age-related macular degeneration in virtual reality

A new virtual reality application visually simulates age-related macular degeneration and demonstrates its progression over time including some Charles Bonnet syndrome hallucinations. Introduction Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in developed countries with the prevalence of...

IN FOCUS - VISION 2020 LINKS Programme: the contribution of health partnerships to reduction in blindness worldwide

As other articles in this series (IN FOCUS Apr 2020) demonstrate, the year 2020 is highly significant in the eye care field. Naming a global initiative ‘VISION 2020: The Right to Sight’ in 1999 was a daring way to focus...

“Steel True, Blade Straight”

Steven Kerr of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh explores the medical career of Arthur Conan Doyle, his relationship with his mentor Joseph Bell and his fascination with ophthalmology. Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh on the...

Working smarter not harder: How to transform eyecare delivery in the United Kingdom (part 1)

Are we doing enough to meet the current demands on ophthalmic services? In part one of a two-part series (see Part 2 here), Rosalind Harrison takes a look at how efficiency has been improved in eyecare services in the US....