Eye Health Examinations Wales (EHEW) re-accreditation

A series of 18 EHEW re-accreditation events have been recently completed across 11 venues in Wales. Nearly 650 optometrist practitioners undertook a series of 8 online modules and MCQs in glaucoma and cataract. They then attended an evening event where discussion workshops were held on optic disc evaluation, visual field interpretation and an exercise in triaging referrals.

The re-accreditation events were scheduled to ensure that additional training was available for all optometrists in Wales ahead of the launch of a series of new services which aim to provide checks at their local optometrists instead of in hospital, for post-operative cataract and monitoring suspect glaucoma.

A big thank you to all our facilitators and WOPEC staff members who have been travelling the width and breadth of the country organising and running the events. We also must thank all of the practitioners who completed the on-line training and attended the workshops for their enthusiasm and commitment.

Eye Health Examinations Wales (EHEW) new services

WOPEC provided training at the recent re-accreditation events in readiness for new eye care services in the community. People who have had cataract operations and those with suspected glaucoma will receive follow-up treatment and checks at their local optometrists instead of in hospital, the Welsh Government has announced. The move is intended to ensure that people are seen more quickly, closer to their homes and to help ensure that hospital-based ophthalmologists are free to manage patients with the most complex conditions. Deputy health minister, Vaughan Gething said: “This is the latest step in our plan to move care for people with a range of eye conditions away from hospital-based services, into the community and closer to people's homes. We want to make follow-up appointments and ongoing care more convenient for patients so they can access the treatment they need at the time they want.”

This news was recently reported on the ITV website. http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/2016-03-28/more-nhs-eye-care-to-be-provided-in-local-communities/

Minor Eye Conditions Service assessments

In WOPEC we have been busy organising over 40 MECS assessments since January 2016. We provide online modules, in conjunction with LOCSU, and then can arrange practical assessments which have been rigorously tested to ensure they meet commissioner’s demands for skills testing for MECS services.

Assessment events have been arranged all over England from Cornwall to Yorkshire and we look forward to delivering more over the coming months as demand continues to grow.

Assessments can be commissioned directly from WOPEC by contacting us. Please contact WOPEC@cardiff.ac.uk for further details.

Cardiff Half Marathon

Congratulations to WOPEC staff Rebecca John and Sasha Macken who ran in the world half marathon championship in Cardiff last weekend. They both did amazingly well and we are very proud of them.

The University’s runners raised money for three Cardiff University causes - scholarships and bursaries, cancer research and dementia research.