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SOC Spring Meeting

The 2024 Spring Meeting of the SOC was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on the 23rd of February. The meeting was hosted by NHS Lanarkshire.

The first session was free papers which saw the presentation of an intriguing range of topics by ophthalmology trainees and medical students, including the post-pandemic challenges facing glaucoma services, a study of home intraocular pressure monitoring and two fascinating presentations on the use of artificial intelligence tools in ophthalmology, which set the scene for later items in the programme. Before the tea and coffee break, Dr Vikas Chadha (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde) provided an update on the implementation of the new curriculum for Ophthalmology training, due to commence later this year.

After a break for refreshments, delegates had the opportunity to peruse the poster presentations, which were -as always- of excellent quality, and discuss their finer points with the presenting authors. Some highlights included a poster about a unique presentation of an orbital mass, a study on the use of a slit-lamp simulator and a review of traumatic intraocular foreign body retrievals.

The SOC then welcomed Dr Josef Huemer of Moorfields Eye Hospital to present a fantastic talk on angiographic imaging in the medical retina field, which provided an excellent overview of this emerging modality.

Session three began, after a hearty lunch, with an essential session presented by Ms Evelyn Mensah (of London Northwest University Hospital Trust) and Dr Umaima Mulla (from NHS Lanarkshire) entitled "Do You See What I See? Exploring Diversity Within the UK Medical Workforce, Ophthalmology Nationally and in Scotland". In this highly engaging session, delegates were invited to confront some of the challenges facing the ophthalmology community and wider society in respect of diversity and equity.

This was followed by an important update on the OpenEyes system from Dr Aaron Jamieson of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The conference then enjoyed a final tea and coffee break before the presentation of prizes. The joint undergraduate prize was awarded to Calum Silcock (for his presentation entitled: "Accuracy and readability evaluation of 'Alan': A Diagnosis and Management Primary Eye Care AI Assistant") and Jeremy Lee (for his talk entitled: "Intra-operative anti-VEGF Injection for the Prevention of Post-operative Vitreous Cavity Haemorrhage in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy"). Meanwhile, the Best Paper Prize was awarded to Wesley McLoughlin (for "Taking the pressure off outpatients: Home IOP measurement pilot study"), and the Best Poster Prize to Caoimhe Henry (for "Burkholderia Cenocepacia Keratitis: A Wake-Up Call from a Common Ophthalmic Lubricant").

The final session continued the theme of artificial intelligence in ophthalmology with two excellent presentations, first from Marcello Leucci (Lead Optometrist at Moorfields Eye Hospital) on machine learning for anterior segment tomography, and then Dr Huemer returned to present "Artificial Intelligence in Retina - From Screening to Oculomics".

The conference closed with a wonderful series of talks from four colleagues on the theme of "Cases That Inspired Me to Choose My Subspecialty". Dr Caroline Cobb (NHS Tayside) presented for team Glaucoma, Dr Sonali Tarafdar for Vitreoretinal surgery, Ms Evelyn Mensah returned to the stage to advocate for Medical Retina and Dr Claire Murphy (NHS Lanarkshire) closed the session with cases from her Oculoplastics experience.

It was another tremendous meeting, which also saw the handover from outgoing president Dr Chris Scott to incoming president Dr Donald Montgomery. The SOC council look forward to inviting everyone back on Friday 20th September 2024 at the Apex City Quay Hotel in Dundee, for the Autumn meeting to be hosted by NHS Fife.