Colleges publish glaucoma care pathways

Colleges publish glaucoma care pathways

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and College of Optometrists have published Designing Glaucoma Care Pathways using GLAUC-STRAT-FAST. The Colleges say that this new publication responds to the NICE guideline on glaucoma diagnosis and management.

In a press release, the Royal College of Ophthalmology said: “Multiple models of care have evolved across the NHS and it is crucial that the whole multidisciplinary ophthalmic team in primary and secondary care safely contribute to glaucoma care, to increase capacity and reduce the backlogs which put patients at risk of permanent and avoidable sight loss and improve the patient experience.”

The principle being that the higher the risk, the more senior the level of clinical professional involvement or supervision should be. Contributing factors should be considered a potential indicator for care at a higher level and specific red flags or the transition of an individual patient to a higher risk level identifies the need for consultant /senior decision maker involvement.

The College of Optometrists offers a series of higher qualifications for optometrists and other HCPs to advance their skills set above those of core competency, with courses and assessments delivered by academic partners prior to the awarding of the qualification by the College of Optometrists. The Higher Certificate and Diploma require the optometrist to undergo extensive further clinical training in a secondary care setting with a specified number of glaucoma patients seen and involve skills development through clinical placements. There are an ascending three-level order of skills development:

• The Professional Certificate in Glaucoma
• The Professional Higher Certificate in Glaucoma
• The Professional Diploma in Glaucoma

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