Word of warning to junior ophthalmologists

EDITOR,—B Hopkisson highlights the bottleneck that has developed at entry to the ophthalmic registrar grade.1 There are now 81 senior house officers with settled status who have the FRCOphth; fewer than 20 registrar appointments were made last year. It is no surprise that Hopkisson had nine applicants (30%) with two or more higher qualifications. Three years ago a fifth of higher surgical trainees in ophthalmology had both the MRCP and an ophthalmic fellowship (R J Aggarwal et al, annual congress of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, 1992), but increasing competition has directed many …