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Bridging the gap – Supporting our patients across the primary / secondary care divide

Providing the best care for patients is surely a fundamental goal for all healthcare professionals. When waiting-times are long and getting longer, clinics are full, colleagues are off with stress-related illness and patients are complaining, is it possible to still...

Non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NA-AION): a review

Ischaemic optic neuropathy (ION) is the commonest adult optic neuropathy encountered today in our ageing population, is a common cause of irreversible visual loss and is usually associated with underlying vascular disease. The condition is classified as follows: (a) Anterior...

Towards virtual reality conferences?

COVID-19 is forcing us to reconsider every aspect of life. The authors ask what future ophthalmic meetings could look like. The coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic disrupted ophthalmic conferences resulting in the cancellation of the majority of meetings in 2020, e.g....

Novel changes during COVID-19 – transforming a walk-in Eye Casualty to a telephone triage service

With the current pandemic climate due to COVID-19, out of the norm approaches have been adopted in different hospitals across the UK to ensure patient safety. At our Eye Casualty (EC) department at Northampton General Hospital (NGH), we felt the...

Africa makes strides in tackling blinding eye diseases: highlights of annual conference

Introduction The 9th Annual Scientific Conference of the College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) was held at the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, Malawi in September 2022. The meeting was hosted by the Ophthalmological Society...

From paper to pocket: Standardising eyecare with the Malawi Eye Care App

Malawi’s population is mostly rural; the government and Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) together deliver about 80% of healthcare services through local district and community health facilities [1]. However, ophthalmology specialist services are only concentrated in the central hospitals....

Prognostic AI for diabetic retinopathy: Towards the first prospective trial in the UK

Artificial intelligence (AI) is frequently described as having the capacity to dramatically change and improve healthcare. One extensively studied application of AI in ophthalmology involves the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) or diabetic maculopathy (DM) using retinal imaging. An emerging...

Building data infrastructure for eye research in the NHS: Real-world lessons from the Liverpool Eye Data Platform

The Liverpool Eye Data Platform demonstrates how governance-compliant infrastructure can bring together routinely-collected, siloed NHS eye data. Routine care delivered across the NHS generates vast amounts of clinical data within a healthcare system that is uniquely characterised by comprehensive population...

Optometrist found guilty of manslaughter

To start our new Optometry section, editor Janet Pooley takes a look at the tragic death of Vincent Barker and asks what lessons can be learned. In August, Optometrist Honey Rose was found guilty of the manslaughter of eight-year-old Vincent...

Diabetic Retinopathy Network laser training programme

The VISION 2020 Diabetic Retinopathy Network (DR-NET) was established in 2014 to tackle the increasing burden of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in developing countries [1]. By forming a network of long-term LINK capacity-building partnerships, learning and best practice can...