So, Airfix models finished (replica of the Mayflower, courtesy of the middle aisle in Lidl), records received and listened to (best of the bunch, Afrique Victime by Mdou Moctar), and email catch-up well and truly under way. My very first email confirmed the cancellation of an assessment due to a positive Covid test. Despite this, I believe there is much new in the eye care world we can look forward to this year, and many opportunities to be grasped during this saltatory recovery.
Firstly, it is goodbye CET and hello CPD. I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions since my abortive attempt at joining the Beauty and the Beast gym in Lewisham a few years back. After my initial appraisal, the instructor suggested I spend most time in the sauna room ‘to sort out my skin’. This year, however, we will all be thinking about our professional development plan (PDP), which is a requirement from the GOC before undertaking future CPD. I hope you find the articles on CPD in this and forthcoming issues useful in explaining the process. Rather than thinking of a PDP as a distracting administrative process, why not use it to think about how you would like your career to develop and then to consider the various options available, via training and experience, to help you to achieve your goal?
Secondly, you may have heard some of the online excitement about a pre-Christmas course for optometrists interested in developing such advanced skills as YAG laser therapy, SLT and suturing (see page 28). Again, expect more on this exciting area of professional development in the coming year.
Finally, before the January blues take hold, take heart from a recent paper,1 which reviews multiple studies of ageing and shows conclusive proof that the less ‘old’ you think you are, the healthier you will remain.