UK-first ophthalmology qualification created at Princess of Wales Hospital

With more than 10% of all outpatient appointments in the UK being ophthalmology related, eye services at our hospitals were already struggling to cope with demand before COVID-19 hit.

Since then demand continues to increase, contributed to by an aging population, the development of technology to diagnose conditions sooner, and more advanced interventions to treat conditions that were previously untreatable and resulted in blindness.

To help tackle this demand, Orthoptists at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend have created a qualification for Healthcare Support Workers, the Agored Cymru Level 3 Certificate in Fundamentals of Ophthalmology (Wales), which is now being utilised across all Health Boards in Wales.

This is the first qualification of its kind in the UK for HCSWs and technicians and strives to provide clinically based, standardised ophthalmic training to enable staff to deliver high quality care.

Karen Phillips Head of Orthoptic and Optometry Services for Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB explained: “More than 40% of staff in the NHS are Healthcare Support Workers (HCSWs), and we know that they play a major role in the care of our patients.”

“However, what was lacking was a formal training programme and qualification for HCSWs to play a more effective role in our ophthalmology clinics.”

“At Princess of Wales Hospital we have been carrying out this training on an informal basis for nearly 20years, but I identified a need for a national programme. The new qualification provides ophthalmology training at HCSW level so that staff are more confident clinicians. They also have a transferable qualification and are able to help provide a prudent ophthalmology service working under delegation from qualified ophthalmology staff.

Karen, along with her colleague Caroline Morris, worked alongside RNIB, RCN and HEIW to develop the qualification, which is accredited by Agored Cymru.

Now those working in a suitable role in any organisation are able to use this training package.

“Although originally conceived as training for HCSWs, we quickly realised that this programme is also valuable to Registered General Nurses entering Ophthalmology, allowing them the background knowledge to develop further towards post graduate training if required,” said Karen.