Optometrists

Optometry is a dynamic and ever evolving field of healthcare, involving a blend of clinical, scientific and technical knowledge, alongside excellent communication skills as they help people to understand their condition and retain as high as quality of life as possible.

As such Optometrists are recognised as highly skilled healthcare professionals conducting examinations and assessments for a wide range of eye conditions as well as underlying health issues such as high blood pressure or diabetes which can have a major and detrimental impact on eyesight.

The Newcastle Eye Centre is a regional centre of excellence for all aspects of ophthalmology care and our optometrists feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with both adults and children every day to assess and diagnose a diverse range of conditions affecting eyesight.

As our Trust offers the second largest breadth of specialist services in the UK, we are committed to continually improving our offer of high quality services for patients alongside excellent career progression prospects. To enable this, we ensure our optometrists have access to all the education and development support that they might need.

CPD support at Newcastle Hospitals

Career aspirations can be discussed at annual appraisals in close liaison with line managers, or at any other time of the year, to help understand and plan how we can help you to take steps forward and achieve your goals.

For example, you may wish to specialise in a particular area of practice or explore teaching or research. Further training can support you to prepare for a future role – you may wish to become an advanced clinical practitioner or progress into management.

Annual appraisals help to shape personal development plans to set out learning opportunities which can be provided either in-house or externally.

Choosing the right CPD for you

There is a huge and diverse range of learning and development opportunities for you to choose from. We offer a wide variety of courses which are run in-house by our Education Workforce Development team and you can seek advice from our team here at the Newcastle Clinical Skills Academy about what might work for you.

If it’s something relating to leadership that you’re looking for then head to the Leadership section of our website to find out more.

If you have a particular interest in research then our section on how to #MakeSpace4Research will tell you everything you need to know.

General Optical Council

Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians are registered with the General Optical Council and are required to meet the Council’s Standards of Practice and CPD system focussing on four core domains

• Professionalism
• Communication
• Clinical practice
• Leadership and accountability

There is also specialty CPD for therapeutic prescribing or contact lens practice.

The College of Optometrists

We encourage our optometrists to seek out CPD opportunities so that they can develop further such as becoming an independent prescriber of glasses or contact lenses or specialising in more complex conditions such as glaucoma.

You can find out more about the CPD cycle and the CPD points requirements for each core domain on The College of Optometrists website.

Optometrists can attend regional and national clinical excellence networks and conferences which are keys sources for learning and development and we very much encourage staff to engage with and attend these.

Clinical Educators

Our optometrists are also supported by dedicated Clinical Educators who can provide you with advice and guidance no matter where you are in your career, and signpost you to a wide and diverse range of resources.

If you would like any advice or support contact:

Kathryn Smart,
Ophthalmology NMAHP Practice Education and Workforce Development Lead

Email: kathryn.smart@nhs.net