Optometrist David Baddeley did not let the London bombings of July 7 prevent him attending the graduation ceremony for his Postgraduate Diploma in Ophthalmology.
Optometrist David Baddeley did not let the London bombings of July 7 prevent him attending the graduation ceremony for his Postgraduate Diploma in Ophthalmology.
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| Baddeley: special qualification |
'On arrival it was immediately apparent that a lot of graduates had not made it,' the Ruislip-based practitioner told optician.
'The Dean of the University broke the news of the bombings during his speech. However, he was at pains to stress that we should not let the terrorists win by spoiling the day we had worked so hard for, and we should still celebrate our achievement.'
The Diploma has been established to provide more professionals with wider knowledge of specialised eye care services.
The programme was organised by the Middlesex University and Rila, a London-based provider of continuing professional education. Students pursued a year-long clinical training programme through a combination of workshops, distance learning and local clinical attachments with ophthalmic specialists. Baddeley said that by taking the diploma he now had a higher level of understanding of the medical areas involved in eye care.
'It'll be particularly useful when optometry becomes more involved with therapeutics,' he said. 'The diploma has given me an insight into detecting disease and diagnosing potentially serious diseases.'
Mentored by eye surgeon Philip Bloom, who has specialist knowledge in glaucoma, Baddeley said he was delighted that he was termed the 'lead optometrist' in his Eye Design practice, and the outlet now offers patients an Early Detection of Glaucoma programme.
Last year four optometrists were among the first to complete the diploma in its initial run (News, July 9 2004). The course will begin again in the autumn. To take part go to www.pgdip.com