BMJ  2005;331:1483 (17 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7530.1483

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Comprehensive ophthalmology at the Last Chance Saloon

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Let me let you into a secret. No one is in charge. No one knows what's going on.

I don't know how it is in your specialty, but in mine there is one man at the Department of Health who is supposed to know what's going on. He is a one man band in charge of "optical services." That's 7000 optometrists and 1000 consultant ophthalmologists. My 100 colleagues in paediatric ophthalmology rate a few civil service digits.

The government of the day thinks in soundbites and spin. The soundbite for ophthalmology is waiting lists, cataracts, and private practice. That's not to say that cataracts are not important. The reason cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the NHS is that it is the commonest cause of blindness worldwide. Unlike in sub-Saharan Africa, in Newcastle corteges of blind people with their hands on the shoulder of the . . . [Full text of this article]

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Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne m.p.clarke@ncl.ac.uk

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