Thank you SCO!
"Best CET in years! Excellent speakers, great hands on workshops and useful skills I will actually use in practice - thank you!"
Delegate, Gonioscopy 2010
REGISTER TO JOIN
Join now for just £42.50 per annum and enjoy a 20% discount on all open course fees as well as other benefits. Simply download an SCO Associate Membership form, then complete and return it SCO.
News
Hospital Optometrist Sessions Available (Fife)
Seven sessions of band seven payment for hospital optometrist to start from October 2010 in Fife. Services include glaucoma, diabetes, macula, paediatrics and general clinics and management of electronic referrals with digital images.
More details are available on the website below. Part time work is also considered.
2010 Digital Freeform Roadshows
Signet Armorlite and Kodak Lens are bringing this digital lens roadshow to the UK. The Scottish date is Tuesday 18th May in Glasgow. Please click here for more information. The course has 4 CET points and will cover the following:
* The changing progressive market
* Traditional progressive manufacturing technology
* Digital progressive manufacturing technology and the benefits/advantages
* The impact of digital technology
* How to sell/retail it
SCO AGM - Monday 17th May 2010
SCO will be holding their AGM at the Lovat Hotel, Perth. A light buffet will be served from 6pm with the meeting commencing at 6.30pm. All members are welcome. Please let the SCO office know if you will be coming. 0131 220 4542 or click to email.
GOC Optometrist Survey
The GOC will be introducing a revalidation scheme from January 2013 and they would like your opinions on CET. Please take the time to complete the survey and the results will be available on the GOC website in due course.
Click here to complete the survey.
Gonioscopy 2010!
This course was a huge success and the delegate feedback is available if you click here. Prof. Greg Black and Dr Julie Tyler ran an excellent course and the 3D Gonio slides were innovative, interesting and useful. SCO also hosted Prof. Black and Dr Tyler in a guest lecture slot at Glasgow Caledonian University with senior students, PHD students and department staff.
If you did not attend this course, you really missed out but we hope to invite Prof. Black and Dr Tyler back soon. Here is a link to a Gonioscopy paper recommended by Prof. Black for your interest: Click Here.
Scottish Glaucoma Symposium 2010
The tenth Scottish Glaucoma Symposium is being held on Friday 18th June 10 from 9.00 - 4.30pm at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. For more information, including the booking form and programme, please click here.
GCU Postgraduate Ocular Therapeutics Course
This course is currently recruiting. Please click here for more details.
Edinburgh Access Partnership - Homeless Initiative
Please click here for more information about the initiative or how to help by donating old equipment. Optometrists in Edinburgh have donated all the equipment but Clare is looking for a visual fields scanner that will comply with GOS. If you can help Clare, please contact her on clare@downesopticians.com.
Request for temporary staff at PAEP
From Donald Cameron (Edinburgh)
I work in an Acute Macular Clinic at PAEP on Monday afternoons (2 - 4.30pm). I am currently doing the IP course so I need to use that time to gain clinical exposure in the ARC clinic therefore I am seeking a temporary replacement to run the Macular Clinic on Monday afternoons for 6 months. Payment is available at the hospital sessional rate. Please contact me directly for further information on 07957 573 695 or by email: donaldcameron@dial.pipex.com.
Royal College of Surgeons
"Shared Care Services in Ophthalmology - Glaucoma - Co-management with Hospitals into 2010"
This course is being held on Thursday 19th November 2009 (9.30am - 4.15pm) in the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. For more information, please download the flyer and programme by clicking here.
New Technologies in Dry Eye 2009 - "Bringing Tears to Dry Eyes"
This is a course sponsored by Allergan on Friday 27th November 2009 (10am - 4pm) at the Radisson SAS Hotel, Glasgow. For more information, please download the flyer and booking form by clicking here.
Scottish Glaucoma Symposium 2009
The ninth Scottish Glaucoma Symposium is being held on Friday 19th June 09 from 9.30 - 4.45pm at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. For more information, including the booking form and programme, please click here.
RNIB and Novartis: be AMD aware Campaign
You will have seen the adverts on TV and in the press. Please click here for the campaign summary and if you would like to visit the website, please visit: www.beamdaware.co.uk.
SCO is awarded the NES Tender - FREE COURSES!!!
working in partnership with 300dpi.jpg)
As you have heard, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has been given a budget by the NHS for educating Optometrists throughout Scotland. This is a recurring budget and NES have just awarded the 2008-09 training budget to SCO! We tendered to run 6 courses up to June 09 and more details can be found under the diary section. Click here for more info.
SCO proved it was capable of producing and running a high quality, practical course in 2006 and has been consistantly producing excellent courses which make a difference to Optometrists in practice. We are looking forward to the challenge of 2009.
GCU Therapeutics Course - Funding Available!
SCO can announce a fantastic opportunity to enrol for the Ocular Therapeutics course at Caledonian University at no cost to yourselves (saving of around £1800 pounds)! This is courtesy of the training grant secured by Optometry Scotland and administered by NES (NHS Education for Scotland). As we are entrusted with educating our peers, this is a perfect opportunity to be seen to be taking the lead and setting an example which keeps us at the forefront of CET. With this in mind, I would urge you to contact the course organisers at the earliest possible time as spaces for enrolment and funding will be limited.
Please click here for some more information.
Please click here for the application form.
New SCO Executive Committee and Members
The Scottish Committee of Optometrists held their latest AGM on 26th January 2009 and Ian Jarvis stood down as the SCO Chair. Ian has provided leadership for the past two years and has continued to guide the SCO into a niche market of practical and peer led education which has created an excellent framework on which to base our future direction.
Neil Leslie (previous Vice Chair) was elected as Chair of SCO and Ian Rough was elected as Vice Chair with Lorna Cameron remaining as Office Manager. 2009 promises to be an exciting time for optometric CET within Scotland with the recurring government budget of £1M secured. With SCO?s innovative pioneering and extensive experience in peer led education within Scotland, we trust that there will be a place for such skills under the new system.
The SCO Committee also welcomed Sam Elliot, Brian Green and Ian Cameron onto the committee.
Showing l-r: Charles McPherson (Honorary President), Lorna Cameron (Office Manager), Neil Leslie (Chair), Ian Rough (Vice Chair)
Scottish Optometric Conference 2008
After the success of the SOC 07, the Scottish Committee of Optometrists and Optometry Scotland joined forces again in 2008. The focus of this conference was on the latest developments for optometry within Scotland and practical education that will make a difference on Monday morning in practice.
The SOC 08 welcomed Nicola Sturgeon MSP (Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing) as the key note speaker and her speech congratulated the Scottish profession in their dynamic vision for the future and focus on patient eye health. Click here to read the speech in full).
The SOC 08 had exciting lectures on the technological developments in practices: OCT machine, digital imaging, corneal topography from Donald Cameron, Stephen McPherson and Steve Whittaker. There was also a focus on contact lenses and the lectures addressed lens materials and care systems for silicone hydrogel lenses and additionally free-form lens developments.
The Scottish Committee of Optometrists employed their successful dual-track formula with lectures and practical sessions running concurrently. The practical sessions allowed delegates to brush up on GOS contract skills and there was an advanced track room with gonioscopy and other more advanced techniques. Optometry Scotland ran an interactive discussion forum to allow the delegates to ?grill the experts? in the political scene for optics within Scotland.
The afternoon sessions were contact lens focussed with soft mulit-focal lens and RGP fitting and dispensing workshops ran throughout the day for delegates to drop in.
The feedback indicated that optometrists wanted more of the same and SCO are filling that niche in practical CET education within Scotland. It was another exciting CET course for Scotland. SCO and OS are looking forward to 2009 ? we hope you are too!
Glasgow Caledonian University - Prize Winners 2008
SCO sponsors the best Dispensing Student (Zibaor Azam) and the best Optometry Student (Carole Whyte) prize every year. Ian Jarvis (SCO Chair) presented the prizes at the ceremony in July 2008.
Scottish Glaucoma Symposium 2008
Please click here for information on the 8th Scottish Glaucoma Symposium being held in Edinburgh on Friday 20th June 2008.
Scottish Optometric Conference 2007
The first SOC was held on 2nd December 2007 in the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow. This was run by Optometry Scotland and the Scottish Committee of Optometrists and had a tightly packed, interesting programme addressing the GOS (Scotland) contract. The key note speaker at the conference was Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health and she announced some exciting new support and funding for Optometrists in Scotland.
Please click here to read the speech in full.
Please click here to read the SCO and OS article in Optometry Today
Glaucoma Screening Paper
The immediate past chair of the SCO, optometrist Stephen McPherson is an author on the paper into glaucoma screening. It is now published and freely available. There is a huge amount of data in this work with a major literature search being a substantial part of the work. All the new techniques for glaucoma evaluation are considered.
Please click here to read the article in full.
Update Course for Optometrists (RCPSG)
This course is being run on Monday 12th November and costs £120. Please click the links for the poster, flyer and booking form relating to this course.
A proposal from the HES glaucoma service
There is a proposal from the HES glaucoma service to discharge all ocular hypertensives currently followed up at the hospital. They are currently seen under the 'Primary Care Clinic' as the Glaucoma consultants feel it is poor use of busy clinic time to see these patients within a glaucoma clinic. They would be discharged to community optometry with guidelines as to action required if certain parameters are exceeded. There are currently three glaucoma trained 'glaucoma optometrists' in Grampian and they would support and assist their colleagues as necessary to help make the process work. The basic care in community optometry would be done under the new GOS arrangements. The Glaucoma optometrist care level is a level 2 service and would be funded by NHS Grampian.
A proposal on how this may occur has been tabled to the AOC by glaucoma specialist Consultant Augusto Azuara-Blanco in conjunction with the Grampian glaucoma optometrists Stephen McPherson, David Corry and Ian Rough. This proposal is as follows;
Proposed referral criteria from Community Optometrists (C.O.) to Glaucoma Optometrists (G.O.) for patients with Ocular Hypertension (OHT), glaucoma suspects and glaucoma;
1. Patients with OHT (normal discs and fields).
IOP should be measured by applanation tonometry:
- If IOP < 26 mmHg, follow-up by community optometrist
- If IOP > 26 mmHg, referral to the Glaucoma Optometrist (G.O.) for central corneal thickness (CCT) measurement and possible treatment.
- If IOP 26-29 and CCT > 555 µm patients will be returned and followed-up by the C.O.
- If OHT patients require treatment, they will be followed by the G.O.
- If IOP > 30 mmHg, referral to the G.O. for follow-up and treatment
2. Patients with abnormal discs and normal IOP (< 22 mmHg), and normal fields:
Refer to G.O. if any of the following criteria
- Unequivocal pathological cupping at the optic nerve head: thinning of superior or inferior neuro-retinal rim, rim notch, vertical enlargement of the cup, localised absence of rim in a sector of the optic disc
- Disc haemorrhage
- > 0.7 cup-to-disc ratio in a normal-sized disc (diameter of 1.5 ? 2.0 mm)
3. Patients with abnormal repeatable visual field defects, normal IOP (<22 mmHg) and normal discs: refer to G.O. if the visual fields are consistent with glaucoma (and confirmed in repeated exam)
It is notable that pressure on the eye clinic along with the new GOS examination have resulted in an entirely different approach being taken by the redesign team and ophthalmology to that we may have expected in the past.