FODO member update – 10 July
This week:
- FODO charity opens Leicester optometry school
- Glaucoma Awareness Week and primary eye care
- GOC appoints new head of optometric advice
- Funding to inspire next generation of eye care professionals
- College recruiting DO apprenticeship trainees
- At a glance
- Health policy news
FODO charity opens Leicester optometry school
The University of Leicester has officially opened a dedicated teaching space for its MOptom course. The first cohort of students will begin in September.
Cutting the ribbon at the ceremony yesterday was David Hewlett on behalf of FODO Educational Charity, which donated funding for the equipment.
Professor Christian French, a consulting neuro-optometrist who is leading the course, said he was looking forward to welcoming the new students. He praised the quality of the facilities and range of clinicians involved. “I am incredibly proud of what has been achieved; it is the culmination of a lot of planning and work,” he said.
Glaucoma Awareness Week and primary eye care
This year, Glaucoma Awareness Week comes at a pivotal time for the profession, with the recent publication of the NHS Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) glaucoma best practice guidance, which endorses a more integrated model of care. An article in Clarity explains the background and details of the sector’s response.
Members can view recordings of webinars on the guidance held on 30 June:
- Glaucoma care reimagined: empowering primary care optometry – a joint sector webinar featuring FODO, ABDO, AOP and LOCSU and hosted by the College of Optometrists.
- GIRFT best practice for glaucoma services – led by Professor Tim Briggs, the national director for clinical improvement and chair of the GIRFT programme
GOC appoints new head of optometric advice
The GOC has created a new role, head of optometric advice, to strengthen the quality and independence of its clinical and professional input in areas including education, continuing professional development (CPD), professional standards and policy.
The council has appointed Janice McCrudden, an experienced IP optometrist who has worked in hospital and primary eye care services, to be the first post-holder.
Read more in Clarity.
Funding to inspire next generation of eye care professionals
SPOKE (Sector Partnership for Optical Knowledge and Education) has secured funding from the Central Optical Fund to provide materials and support for an 18-month project to inspire early interest in eye care careers.
The programme, which will run for 18 months, is an attempt to address a lack of awareness and interest in the profession in primary and secondary school pupils.
Read more in Clarity.
College recruiting DO apprenticeship trainees
ABDO College is looking to fill places for its next cohort of Level 6 Dispensing Optician apprentices. The college reported that increasing numbers of students from independent practices were choosing this route over the more traditional privately funded path. Read more in Clarity.
At a glance
- NHS Scotland has published 10 redrafted community eyecare guidelines, which are available on its website.
- Stuart Spencer is retiring after 45 years at Scrivens. He helped train hundreds of hearing aid audiologists and guided the profession through regulatory change, Optician magazine reports.
- Nominations are open for The College of Optometrists’ research excellence awards for those who make an outstanding contribution to eye care research. Read more.
- More than 500 optometry students begin Clinical Learning in Practice (CLiP) roles this month, the largest intake yet into the work-based learning programme. Read more.
- Expressions of interest are open for Moorfields Eye Charity’s new Discovery and Translation Excellence award. Applicants can apply for up to £1 million over three years.
- Eyenews reports on the success of a digital connectivity programme called Community Ophthalmic Link (COL) deployed across Gloucestershire in 2023.
- A new hub in Sunderland that will allow glaucoma patients to get three eye scans and a visual field test, described as ‘pivotal moment’ in eye health, the BBC reports.
- Newmedica and Cardiff University have formed a partnership to help address recruitment shortages by providing practice-based training for secondary eye care roles. Read more.
- The International Association for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) has launched its 2026 campaign for World Sight Day on 8 October. Read more.
- RNIB has developed training to help eye care professionals provide better emotional support to patients receiving a sight-loss diagnosis. Read more.
Health policy news
The NHS Alliance has published a report called ‘Delivering eye care closer to home: enabling it at scale from acute to community’.
The report says: “The ambition to deliver eye care closer to home through community-based services supported by integrated pathways is now widely accepted as essential for improving access, safety and sustainability.” It provides examples of where eye care has successfully shifted into primary eye care settings.
This guidance, delivered in partnership with Primary Eyecare Services, is aimed at system and commissioning leaders, acute and community provider leaders, clinicians involved in managing eyecare and transformation leaders. Read more.
Government publishes capital plan
The government has published its 10-year capital plan to modernise NHS buildings, upgrade GP surgeries and shift care closer to home.
It said that about £5 billion in capital funding up to 2030 would go towards local transformation projects, including diagnostics, urgent treatment centres and emergency departments.
The plan also confirms the government’s pledge to provide 250 neighbourhood health centres, bringing together GPs, diagnostic tests, community and other services under one roof. Read more.