Inaugural IP education session hailed a hit

A pioneering session has brought together a group of independent prescribers to create content ‘for practitioners by practitioners’ for use in real world scenarios.

Dr Keyur Patel, clinical director of Tompkins, Knight & Son Optometrists in Northampton, arranged the meeting of fellow independent prescribing opticians at the Millennium Gloucester hotel in London.

He said: “I wanted to create a platform that brings independent prescribers together so we can all benefit from each other’s experience, share ideas and ensure we are all acting in a joined-up way that ensures the best treatment for our patients.

“The emphasis was on learning but in a relaxed and welcoming environment. It was informal but educational and the feedback has been really encouraging.

“Independent prescribing has grown significantly in recent years and is having a positive impact across the profession, giving patients better access to treatment and saving time and money across the health service.

The session brought together a network of eye care professionals to discuss treatment pathways for a variety of conditions.

Alan Hawrami, a specialist optometrist that currently works in community ophthalmology clinics on a daily basis, led the morning session that covered conditions including uveitis, allergy and herpetic eye disease.

A dedicated afternoon session on glaucoma was led by Irinder Khakha, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Opticians, while Keyur himself created peer review content for the event.

The session was compered by Gajan Singh, Director of Education with Out of the Box Optics, while Elion Hyseni, founder and managing director of Clinical Eye Service ltd (CES) was on hand to give his expertise and answer questions from delegates.

CPD was supported by Stuart Wellings at Eyecare Education.