After 18 months of planning, more than 300 patients were seen by around 80 trainee Ophthalmologists from across the world as CHFT hosted the April part 2 Fellowship in Ophthalmology by examination (FRCOphth).
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists asked our consultant Rehna Khan if we would host the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).
Ms Khan, said: "This was a real honour for us, and despite taking a huge amount of organising, I'm sure it has put us right back on the map. In fact the Royal College told me our eye clinic was one of the only units that could hold it in such a state of the art facility in the UK. They were blown away by our facilities"
The trainees were here for three days, taking their final exams before becoming consultants. They came from as far afield as Singapore, the Caribbean, Barbados and India and beyond. And, at the same time, consultants who wanted to be examiners were trained too.
The bulk of the preparation time was recruiting patients who had been seen over the past 12 months to see if they'd participate to support the trainees.
Ms Khan, added: "The response from our patients was overwhelming. They've been absolutely fantastic. Everyone who said they'd take part, did so. We managed to recruit more than 480 patients with varying eye conditions to make sure the whole process was fair for the trainees. And in the run up we spent time contacting them by phone to make sure they were all still able to come along.
"The Royal College paid the patients their travel expenses, and many generously donated it to our charity box, so £360 was also raised for Sightsavers International.
"It also got our senior trainees involved and gave them a unique insight into what goes into organising an exam. Many of them aspire to be examiners themselves one day (as they need to be a consultant for three years and have evidence of educational work too)."
There has already been some great feedback from our volunteer patients:
"Following the examinations I would just like to say how impressed I was with the organisation and how well run the whole 3 days were. My sincere thanks to the nursing staff for their welcome and constant attention. And thank you for including me in this interesting and valuable experience." M Josephine McMahon
I just want to say I had an interesting day at the event. Everyone was very friendly and courteous and we patients were very well looked after." Pat Beaton
After the event, the Royal College treated our team to bouquets - see photo - and a meal in Leeds as a thank you.
Examiner team pic (below)
From left to right
Mr John Bradbury consultant Ophthalmologist Bradford and previous senior examiner Mr Jon Luck, Consultant bath senior examiner for part 2 Rehna Khan Nitin Anand, Cheltenham, co sultans Ophthalmologist, examiner part 2 Bob Taylor consultant Ophthalmologist York and chair of examinations committee RCOphth Mr Karnesh Patel, consultant Ophthalmologist and examiner part 2 FRCOphth