Training
Orthoptic Department
The three year degree course involves both lectures and practical placements.
Undergraduate orthoptic students from Sheffield and Liverpool come to the Orthoptic Department for clinical training on four-week placements, with the opportunity to see patients with a variety of different conditions.
All orthoptists are required to register with the Health Professions Council (HPC) and keep a log of their continuing professional development. This work is audited by the HPC every two years.
For more information please see:
If you are considering a career in Orthoptics you may visit our department.
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Optometry and medical students also attend the orthoptic department as part of their training.
Other visitors include:
- nurses
- health visitors
- GPs
- ophthalmologists
- paediatricians.
Optometry Department
Optometrists are primary healthcare specialists who have trained to examine eyes in order to prescribe and fit glasses and contact lenses as well as detect visual and ocular abnormalities.
A minimum of four years' training must be completed to become a qualified optometrist; this comprises a three year degree course, followed by a supervised training period in the workplace during which assessments and practical examinations are undertaken. There are ten universities in the UK which provide the Optometry degree course.
All optometrists must be registered with the professions regulatory body, the General Optical Council, and be listed on the Opticians Register.
In order to maintain up-to-date skills and knowledge, optometrists must complete a specified number of hours of continuing education and training (CET) each year. Optometrists working within the Hospital Eye Service often undertake more specialised postgraduate training to work in extended roles such as glaucoma, AMD and diabetic clinics.
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Nursing
Nurses are supported by a full-time Professional Development Nurse (PDN). Through the work of the PDN and the departmental sisters all staff are encouraged to take every opportunity to learn and develop.
Staff have access to:
- monthly training and development forums
- individual coaching and clinical supervision within the clinical departments
- secondments to specialist courses
- weekly Regional Teaching Programme, held with the Oxford University Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology
- close clinical affiliation with the Clinical Trials Unit
- the opportunity to attend, support and contribute to nationally organised ophthalmology conferences.