Optometry Tomorrow 2024 conference draws 900 eye care professionals to Telford

Artificial Intelligence was the subject of the 20th Anniversary Keynote Lecture. Delivered by Pearse Keane, Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at the Institute of Ophthalmology, Transforming Eyecare with Artificial Intelligence explained how the widespread adoption of AI will help ophthalmologists spend more time treating people with complex eye diseases, and how it can be harnessed as a force for good in both optometry and ophthalmology.

Myopia was the focus of the Charter Lecture, in collaboration with the BCLA. It was delivered by Professor Kathryn Saunders FCOptom, who leads the Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) Study, the largest prospective study of eyes and vision in childhood in the UK and Ireland. Her lecture, Myopia management: Current evidence and future directions, presented a future landscape of myopia and the vital role of optometrists in its management.

Attendees were also able to benefit from numerous face-to-face learning and networking opportunities, interactive sessions, workshops, and industry-led talks.

In fact, there were 27 practical workshops to choose from, 56 small group sessions, 12 peer review sessions and 10 business and communications skills sessions, with loads of opportunities for delegates to develop their clinical techniques in clinical workshops.

Delegates from both professional bodies were able to attend 110 CPD sessions over the two days, making it possible to gain all their required CPD points in this final year of the GOC cycle, and to gain contact lens optician and therapeutics specialty points.

And it wasn’t all about work. As well as the academic programme, Optomfest took place on the Sunday evening, offering visitors the opportunity to unwind and socialise with friends and colleagues, at a social celebration of twenty years of Optometry Tomorrow.

The conference also featured a trade exhibition with 34 exhibitors and sponsors.

These included platinum sponsors: CooperVision and Johnson & Johnson Vision; gold sponsors: Alcon and SpaMedica; silver sponsors: Positive Impact, Bausch + Lomb, EssilorLuxottica, Scope Ophthalmics, Thea Pharmaceuticals and Topcon Healthcare; and bronze sponsors: Docet, Optos, Hakim, Hoya, Optos and Safilens.

Deborah Bott, Ahalya Subramanian, David Edgar, Pouya Alaghband, John Lawrenson and Peter Campbell were the winners of the 2024 Best Early Career Poster for their poster, ‘Barriers and enablers to managing glaucoma medication adherence: An interview study with UK specialist Eye Care Professionals’.

Jane M. Fulton, Tsz Wing Leung, Sara J. McCullough, Lesley Doyle, Nicola S. Logan, Carly S.Y. Lam and Kathryn Y. Saunders were the winners of the 2024 Best Poster Overall, for their poster, ‘The PreMO (Predicting Myopia Onset and Progression) Risk Indicator reliably predicts future myopia in both UK and Hong Kong children.'

The event also featured The College of Optometrists 2024 AGM, which saw Dr Gillian Rudduck MCOptom inaugurated as College President, taking over the role from Professor Leon Davies FCOptom.

View photos of OT24 now incorporating BCLA Focus.