Bill Harvey: We don’t need no...

First off, has everyone taken on board what was agreed by the GOC last week? As a result of the Education Strategic Review, the Council has approved the recommendation for ‘one accountable provider’. Other than some expected anger from colleagues in the universities, very little fuss seems yet to have been made of this plan. What do you think about one provider in charge of educating eye care professionals? I suspect we are in the phoney war calm before a few pennies drop.

In the meantime, I have lately been having some success with electronic aids for patients with sight loss. Though conventional magnifiers are hardly obsolete, I have found more and more elderly patients much preferring instead to use adapted tablets or Kindle-type devices. Even a basic Kindle allows font enlargement and reverse contrast, and the ability to download books and other publications easily is making this a very attractive solution for many. A couple of post-stroke patients with reasonable acuity, but poor visual processing, have also benefited from using the audio option to help maintain concentration. Remember, out-of-copyright books are free to download, so keep an e-reader handy to demonstrate to patients with sight loss. They will appreciate it.