The UK Neuro-ophthalmology Society (UKNOS) Annual Meeting will take place on Thursday 23rd March 2023 at St Thomas’ Hospital, London with a programme focussed on Eye Movements and the Vestibular System. 

Sessions will include clinical talks, scientific presentations and a prize for the best trainee presentation. 

For details see https://uknos.com. 

Registration is now open.

The BSc (Hons) Healthcare Science (Ophthalmic Imaging) degree is now open for applicants to start in September 2022 with The University of Gloucestershire. The degree is the first of its kind to be developed for Ophthalmic Imagers, designed specifically as a 3-year blended-learning course that combines distanced learning with clinical skills placements to ensure each student is given the opportunity to apply their learning within a practice setting. 

Students can access the course full time or via an apprenticeship route. The apprenticeship route is particularly for employers looking to utilise their apprenticeship Levy by developing existing staff and/or recruiting into new substantive posts. Further details of the apprenticeship can be found here: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/829092086/

Course information/applications can also be accessed directly through the University of Gloucestershire’s website:

• Apprenticeship route: https://www.glos.ac.uk/courses/course/dahso-da-healthcare-science-practitioner-l6/
• Full Time route: https://www.glos.ac.uk/courses/course/hso-bsc-healthcare-science/

AHPO’s key objective is to promote the practice, education, training and research in the field of ophthalmology and vision science throughout the UK.

AHPO is a registered Apprenticeship Training Provider and Pearson-recognised Training Centre. They are currently providing Level 2 (assistant) and level 4 (associate) healthcare science BTEC and apprenticeships in ophthalmic and vision science (OVS) and also a Level 5 (associate/practitioner) diploma in OVS (foundation degree level) which could be used towards equivalence for practitioner/degree level.

If you are interested in becoming an assessor, please contact apprenticeship@ahpo.net or visit www.ahpo.net. This is a paid, homebased role and if you do not have an assessor qualification, they can provide training for this.

A really insightful piece by Dr Richard Hagan in VOX, the AHCS newsletter this month, explores the activities and practices of BriSCEV members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read it here.

UKAS has performed assessment for accreditation against the IQIPS standard since 2012 for 8 physiological Science services. The scope of accreditation and finalised standard was not completed at initial conception for the vision science community and so only 7 of the 8 disciplines have been engaged with the accreditation process to date.

Following discussions with stakeholders within the Ophthalmic and Vision Science community and acceptance of the revised IQIPS standard together with a defined scope of activity UKAS now intends to extend this accreditation into the Vision Science discipline.

UKAS is calling all parties who are involved in the delivery of any these services in the current defined scope and who would be willing to participate to express their interest as well as any stakeholders or experts who would be interested in being involved in this project. The level of interest received will enable UKAS to determine next steps in establishing a suitable pilot accreditation project. A copy of the defined scope can be found here.

If sufficient interest is received and the project goes ahead a meeting of interested parties will be held where the project will be discussed in detail including timelines, the pilot assessment process and the terms of reference for the pilot organisations.

Please contact UKAS by Friday 28th August 2020 to record your interest by email to DevelopmentEnquiries@ukas.com. Please include the following information:

• ·Name of Trust/Organisation
• ·Status of any current accreditation or inspection covering your Vision Science services
• ·Whether the interest is as a potential pilot project applicant or as a stakeholder or expert

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact UKAS using the above email address.

Please note that submitting an expression of interest does not indicate any commitment to participate in the project on the part of the interested party and nor does the acceptance of an expression of interest commit UKAS to accept the interested party on to the pilot project. 

Further Update of funding for STP for 2020/21 financial year

Dear Colleagues,
We would like to provide clarification around the funding that HEE will be providing to existing STP trainees and those commencing the programme in September 2020:

Existing STP Trainees
From April 2020, funding for existing trainees will be at Band 6, 2020/21 AfC rates (including on-costs). Funding will increase incrementally each year, in line with AfC rates and will be for the duration of their programme.

STP Trainees commencing in September 2020
HEE funding for trainees commencing the STP programme in September 2020, will be at Band 6, 2020/21 AfC rates (including on-costs). Funding will increase incrementally each year, in line with AfC rates and will be for the duration of their 3 year programme.
Any changes to HEE funding as a result of the Education Funding Review, will not impact existing trainees or those who will commence the programme in September 2020.