Ophthalmology department awarded university status

The Ophthalmology department at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has been recognised for its excellence in a number of areas including clinical outcomes, collaborative research and staff education, and has been awarded university status.

The ophthalmology department is one of the Trust’s busiest departments with approximately 7,000 day case procedures, 100,000 outpatient attendances and over 20,000 eye casualty attendances per year across Royal Berkshire Hospital, Prince Charles Eye Unit and West Berkshire Community Hospital.

The department received its award from the Health Innovation Partnership;  a collaboration between the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Reading, nurturing excellence in research, innovation and education.  Since its establishment in 2018 it has contributed over £2.6 million to improve education, research, and innovation to improve healthcare locally and nationally. 

The department of ophthalmology joins 9 other departments in receiving University department status: Emergency Medicine, Cardiology, Radiology, Stroke Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Renal Medicine, Rheumatology, Urology, and Elderly Care Medicine.

Dr Janet Lippett, Chief Medical Officer at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and HIP co-chair said: ‘I am incredibly proud of the Ophthalmology department in receiving university status and in the amount of work they put in to get this recognition. It is very well deserved.

Whilst they are one of the busiest departments at the Trust, working across three different sites, their performance is above the national average.

We are delighted that ophthalmology has demonstrated all round excellence, delivering a nationally high standard of clinical care, a great training experience and innovative, multi-disciplinary research.’