Annual Monitoring Summary Report Optometry Submission 2012/13

1. Introduction

All GOC approved training institutions are required to provide annual monitoring submissions for the years in between GOC quality assurance visits.

Annual Monitoring will enable the GOC to monitor progress against conditions and recommendations, keep abreast of any changes to approved programmes and to identify any areas of risk. In preparation for each quality assurance visit by the GOC Visitor Panel, Visitors will be issued with all of the annual monitoring submissions since the last visit to be used as the pre visit information pack. Below is a summary of the information collated from each Optometry Annual Monitoring submission

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 detailed information from the reports relating to personal and financial data has been removed for publication purposes.

2. Handbook section: 2.1 Design & Structure

Cardiff University Cardiff have expanded the grand rounds teaching in the third year and moved some smaller 10 credit components to be delivered earlier in the programme. These changes are expected to improve the critical clinical analysis teaching for year 3 students.

City University City University have introduced new modules into years 1 & 2 of the programme. The main change was to separate the Binocular Vision and Neuroscience (25 credits) & Visual Perception (20 credits) modules into stand-alone modules. The reason for this change was to improve the delivery of the programme and to focus more on Binocular Vision which was perceived as a specialist subject. The new modules are: Vision Science (30 credits) and Binocular Vision (15 credits) – there is no change in the overall number of credits. The university also moved the professional skills unit which included the legal aspects of optometry into the final year. The unit had consistently received poor student feedback and was not seen as relevant when delivered outside of clinical practice.

Glasgow Caledonian University Programme has been modified to reflect the change in Optometrist's role from screening and diagnosing to therapeutically managing a range of eye conditions. The university has communicated these changes to the GOC prior to the accreditation visit of Oct 2013 and have included details of the changes in an appendix with this annual report.

Manchester University Following a curriculum review the university made some changes to the programme. These changes included the introduction of Personal Professional Development (PPD)

unit to each year, removing some more generic units such as ‘What is Science For’ and new units in ‘Clinical Methodology’. The changes were explained in detail to the GOC Panel during their visit of Nov 2013 to which the visitors were supportive and enthusiastic.

3. Handbook section: 2.2 GOC Core Curriculum, Competencies & Learning Outcomes

Aston University Aston have made some minor changes to contact lenses, ophthalmic drugs and certain eye treatments such as in glaucoma, diabetic eye disease and age-related macular degeneration. These changes are to keep the programme up to date in fast moving areas. The university did not provide explicit details as to what these changes entail.

Cardiff University (As above) Cardiff has moved some smaller 10 credit components to be delivered earlier in the programme. These changes are expected to improve the critical clinical analysis teaching for year 3 students.

City University City has introduced additional labs on clinical electrophysiology and OCT with the intention to gradually introduce more advanced clinical testing methods.

Glasgow Caledonian University Based on the last GOC visit; the university are working to amend the logging of the competency sign off and recording of patient episodes. This does not affect any of the practices just the recording process. Logging patient episodes will now include patient record cards that contain more information and pro-formas have been designed to improve the logging of core competencies. These are to be reviewed during the GOC's follow-up visit. These new processes will allow the university to collate the information more efficiently and improve consistency throughout the assessment process.

University of Ulster Following a review of clinical teaching involving clinical module leads in all three years of the programme, there was a structural reorganisation of specific clinical topics as described, permitting greater opportunity to concentrate on core skills. Teaching on Fusional Reserves and AC/A Ratios moved from OPT101 General Examination Techniques to OPT305 Advanced Examination Techniques, Binocular Subjective Refraction moved to OPT505 Patient Management.

4. Handbook section: 2.3 Clinical Work Anglia Ruskin University ARU has a new eye clinic which has been in use since January 2013.

Aston University Extended the use of the iPad ‘end of clinic session feedback to students’ system to contact lens clinic – this has been used in Primary Care clinics for 2 years and Binocular Clinics for 1 year. This method provides a more detailed/individual feedback direct to students email. It also keeps a log of details such as time, date, content etc. of each patient experience.

City University In an attempt to improve the clinical competence of the students and to ensure students are meeting the required 18 episodes, the university have increased the number of clinical episodes in the Primary care clinic from 6 to 8 per week. The university have also maintained a 1 visiting clinician:2 students ratio and all visiting staff now have a minimum of 2 years post GOC registration experience.

Glasgow Caledonian University Following verbal feedback given during the GOC visit of October 2013, the university have made changes to the procedures surrounding the sign-off of competencies and the logging of patient experiences. This will be phased in and reviewed by the GOC during their follow-up visit of 2014 and does not affect the programmes syllabus. The changes include a patient record card that will allow the student to record patient details, the investigation diagnosis, the outcome etc. Marking pro-formas are being designed for each core competency which will include student instructions, record sheets, marking structures and guidelines for assessors as well as feedback to students. The logbooks have not yet changed but the intention is to introduce a new version in 2014/2015. University of Ulster The university has recruited new part time supervisors to assist with final year refraction and to strengthen clinical teaching and expertise by including an IP qualified practitioner.

5. Handbook section: 2.4 Abnormal Ocular Conditions/Hospital Experience Anglia Ruskin University Anglia has added Orthoptic experience to Peterborough Hospital.

Aston University To assist students with developing core skills, their understanding of eye diseases and to help with the communication skills the university holds standard hospital sessions for Year 3 students along with LV sessions at Birmingham Focus where students meet patients with severe vision loss. Students are also given the opportunity to observe in theatre session at the on-campus refractive surgery facility.

Cardiff University Large groups numbers attending the hospital had caused overcrowding and difficulty in teaching in a busy hospital. To alleviate the problem, students now attend the hospital for 2.5 days in smaller groups. This spreads the load without compromising the student experience and increases individual student exposure

Glasgow Caledonian University The university has not made any changes to the practical processes but will be introducing new tracking spreadsheets in 2014/2015.

6. Handbook section: 3 Teaching, Learning & Assessment Anglia Ruskin University To build students experience in preparation for their pre-registration year and as a more standardised method of assessing student’s clinical skills, the university introduced an OSCE style assessment for the final year of the course.

Aston University Dissertation titles are now research questions which ensure students are structuring their dissertations on their own research rather than describing someone else’s. Lectures are now recorded and uploaded to the university's intranet and remain there for 1 academic year which allows students access to lectures at any time.

Bradford University The university have made changes to some modules to free up/allow more clinical teaching time. Removal of 'Optometric Mathematics' module was replaced by 'Refraction & Refractive Error' & 'Visual & Ocular Assessment' modules. Degree classification boundaries have changed due to a university-wide policy.

Plymouth University Upon recommendation by an External Examiner, the university has now included a passive station to test the students theoretical knowledge in the assessment of the ‘Clinical Optometry Skills’ module. This change is to better align the learning outcomes of the module.

University of Ulster Based on an internal policy change and in keeping with others institutions, student vivas have now been abolished. External examiners are still able to meet with students but on a more informal basis. Final degree classification will now be based solely on a weighted marks average.

7. Handbook section: 4 Student Progression & Achievement In the data provided by Institutions there are no outstanding issues with the Institutions in this area.

8. Handbook section: 5 Monitoring & Evaluation The majority of Institutions have not made any changes to their monitoring and evaluation processes, however the following institutions have appointed one new External Examiner based on the natural 3 year cycle: Anglia Ruskin University Bradford University Cardiff University City University Glasgow Caledonian

University of Ulster

Aston University External examiners were not keen to use vivas to decide on students whose marks were borderline. Therefore a mathematical system was developed using module results from years 1 & 2 to determine whether to raise the classification or not.

Plymouth University Plymouth has now appointed a second Examiner to meet the requirement set by the GOC.

9. Handbook section: 6 Staffing Anglia Ruskin University In response to a condition set by the GOC during the visit of December 2012, the university has recruited 2 Lecturers both at 1.0FTE. A Clinic Optometrist has also been employed to drive an increase in the patient base. The programme team are also in discussion with the faculty to provide funding for further appointments to support the Optometry team.

Plymouth University Plymouth has recruited an Academic Lead and another member of staff at 0.2FTE to meet the requirements of the GOC to accommodate year 2 of the new programme.

All other institutions with the exception of Glasgow Caledonian University have made changes to staffing that are consistent with ongoing staff turnover and do not cause concern.

10. Handbook section: 7 Resources & Facilities There have been no areas of concern in relation to the funding data which has been submitted and all information provided is in line with the GOC handbook. Some changes have been reported in relation to resources and facilities and are detailed below.

Anglia Ruskin University The new Eye Clinic opened for use in January 2013 and the new pre-clinical space – Optometry and dispensing labs begun being used in September 2013.

Aston University The optics teaching lab has been moved from the main building to a purpose built teaching space. The university plans to purchase a retinal scanning device within the next 6 months.

Bradford University Pre-clinical teaching room has been refurbished and re-equipped.

City University The School of Health Sciences has invested £250,000 in new equipment for the undergraduate programme to improve access to clinical equipment as well as to ensure that the students were able to access OCT and electrophysiology practical experience.

Plymouth University Plymouth have opened and established an Optometry clinic that provides the students with sufficient clinical experience as per the requirements of the GOC.

11. Conditions/Recommendations Anglia Ruskin University ARU have provided details of changes that are being made in response to conditions and recommendations set by the GOC during their visit of December 2012. The university has one condition concerning adequate staff levels to which additional staff have been appointed. The university also provided details as to how they are responding to recommendations regarding career development, the use of external teaching and visiting clinicians, lack of teaching space and the introduction of grand rounds. The responses indicate that the university is making progress towards addressing these issues.

Aston University Aston have put into place assessment mechanisms, student logbooks and new tracking sheets to track and assess each students achievement of each individual GOC stage 1 core competency. The university have also provided training, guidance and support to staff responsible for assessing students and signing off competencies.

Aston has also conducted an audit of the seminar system in response to a recommendation regarding the usefulness and future of the system. The university have conducted said audit and the findings indicated that staff were keen to keep the process and after some guidance and demonstration, the students were also happy to continue with the system.

Bradford University Bradford has provided details of actions taken in response to a condition and recommendation regarding maintaining sufficient staffing levels.

City University The follow up visit in March 2012 proved the GOC were satisfied that conditions surrounding supervision and exam grades in CL module had been actioned.

The university has appointed a Practice manager whose responsibility is to increase the number and variety of patients in which to improve the overall clinical experience of the students.

The clinical log books are now held for 3 years and will be moving to a computerised record for monitoring.

Plymouth University Plymouth provided a response to the GOC addressing all of the conditions and recommendations in July 2013.

Conditions included: - Provision of a schedule of recruitment and training of a lead clinician and sufficient clinic supervisors to support the clinic. - Provision of an updated proposal for the third year hospital placement. - An update of the outcome of the recent recruitment of lecturing staff. - An updated resource allocation model to reflect the demands from Sept 2013. - Clarification of the management structure of the programme.

Ulster University Ulster have taken actions and advised the GOC of these actions during previous annual monitoring process. The university is due to be visited during April 2014.

The following institutions are awaiting copies of the final report for visits that took place in autumn 2013 and therefore have not commented on any actions taken in response to conditions or recommendations set by the GOC:

Cardiff University Glasgow Caledonian Manchester University