Glaucoma UK is a small charity but has a big impact!
Read our latest news including recent updates about our organisation and sight saving research, as well as stories where people living with glaucoma share their thoughts and experiences.
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news
1st April 2021
Easter helpline opening hours
The Glaucoma UK helpline will be closed for the Easter holiday from Friday 2 April 2021 until Monday 5 April 2021 inclusive.
We will resume normal working hours on Tuesday 6 April 2021 from 09.30am.
If you are experiencing any problems with your eyes during this time, please contact your local hospital A&E department for advice.
Need to speak to the DVLA? Use their digital services to avoid delays
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has formally notified the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that they are asking their members to take strike action between Tuesday 6April and Friday 9 April 2021. It is not clear at this stage what the impact of this action will be, should it go ahead.
The DVLA have put contingency measures in place to mitigate the impact on paper application services if the strike action goes ahead. Their online services will remain available should strike action occur,and are the quickest way to interact with the DVLA.
Where possible, if you need assistance from the DVLA, please use their digital services to avoid any unnecessary delays.
The following aids are available free on prescription and you will be able to find them at a number of different outlets. We have listed some retailers below, but you may also find them available elsewhere:
There are also aids which are not available on prescription. Below is a list of retailers who stock them, but they may also be available from other outlets:
Auto squeeze: available via Amazon, MedScope, MedicalShop
Auto drop: available via the RNIB, Amazon, Chemist.net
Cool wallets, to keep your eye drops cool in warm weather. Large wallets hold up to three bottles, while small ones just hold one bottle: Available from Frio (large and small), Amazon (large and small), Diabetic Supply (large and small)
Due to staff availability, please allow 28 days for delivery of any orders you have placed with us. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by the disruption to our services.
If you would like any further advice on how to put in your eye drops, please visit our website or call our helpline team on 01233 64 81 70 or email helpline@glaucoma.uk
Seven-year-old Kasper Mason recently got in touch to share the fantastic poster he drew for Glaucoma UK as part of his homeschooling work. His mum, Philippa, believes it’s important to teach children about looking after their eyes from a young age, in the hope they carry this habit on into adult life.
Philippa, who works as a Development Manager for Glaucoma UK, said “Kasper is currently being homeschooled due to the COVID-19 lockdown, and one of the tasks for his Health and Wellbeing class was to research a charity and design a poster for them. Kasper decided that he wanted to do one for Glaucoma UK.”...
Could peer support help you live well with glaucoma?
Whether you’re newly diagnosed or have lived with glaucoma for years, talking to others who are living with glaucoma is a great way to share your experiences. It gives you support from people who really understand how you are feeling. Under normal circumstances, these conversations would usually take place in hospital waiting rooms or at a patient event. However, the COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing means that such opportunities aren’t currently possible.
Because of this, we’d like to pilot a digital peer-to-peer support group, where you can meet a small number of people online or by phone to have a chat, share your experiences and ask questions....
Up for a challenge to kick start 2021? Then why not apply for one of our London Marathon places. Find out more and register your interest here and be a sight saving hero for people living with glaucoma.
COVID is changing the face of glaucoma care in the UK at a scale and speed that we’ve never seen before. We want to make sure that the patient voice is heard, and that people living with glaucoma get the chance to influence these changes. Please take 10 minutes to complete our survey and share your experiences and views with us, and we’ll make sure they’re shared with commissioners and policy makers.
Our glaucoma helpline will be closed from 2:00pm on Friday 18 December 2020 until 9:30am on Monday 4 January 2021 for the festive period. If you need to speak to someone when our helpline is closed, these contacts may be helpful:...
Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, Professor Pete Shah, has succeeded Mr James Kirwan as UKEGS President. Professor Gus Gazzard, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon and Director of glaucoma service at Moorfields Eye Hospital, has become President-elect.
The announcements were made as part of the UKEGS annual conference, which was held on 27 November 2020 and took place digitally due to current COVID-19 restrictions.
UKEGS, which forms part of Glaucoma UK, is a non-profit national scientific society. It aims to promote the exchange of knowledge between glaucoma specialists, stimulate glaucoma research and protect the interests of people living with glaucoma, or at risk of developing the disease.
Professor Shah is also Co-Director at the Birmingham Institute for Glaucoma Research, and recently became a Glaucoma UK Trustee. He said: “I am thrilled to take up the roles of UKEGS President and Trustee, and consider it a great honour be able to serve in these roles. I look forward to working with James Kirwan as UKEGS past-President and our new President-elect, Gus Gazzard. The next several years will bring transformations in glaucoma care that will enable us to protect our patients with increasing certainty. Looking after our patients and looking after our specialists goes hand-in-hand – each is the other’s best advocate. By working together, we will get more resources to help serve glaucoma patients and continue on our journey to making glaucoma blindness a thing of the past.”
Professor Gazzard is UCL Professor of Glaucoma Studies and a member of Glaucoma UK’s Clinical Advisory Panel. He commented: “I am delighted to have been asked to be President-elect of UKEGS. I look forward to promoting our speciality and helping to bring together all of those interested in and affected by glaucoma to make glaucoma care in the UK the best it can possibly be.”
Glaucoma UK’s Chief Executive Karen Osborn stated: “We are pleased to welcome Pete and Gus as President and President-elect of UKEGS, and look forward to working with them closely over the coming year. UKEGS is a vital platform which allows glaucoma specialists to come together and share their work and expertise in glaucoma care. I have no doubt that Pete and Gus’ vast knowledge and experience in the area will ensure that the strong UKEGS leadership we have enjoyed over the last few years will continue. Their appointments ensure the Society will thrive in its mission to promote knowledge exchange and foster the interests of people living with glaucoma.”
We’d like to recognise the professionals or volunteers who make a real difference to the lives of people living with glaucoma. So we’re asking for nominations for our ‘Excellence in Glaucoma Care Awards 2020’.
You can nominate an individual or team from any field of glaucoma care, maybe someone who provided just the right information at the right time, or someone who gave you time and emotional support when you needed it most. It could be an excellent surgeon or nurse, an optometrist who gave you sight-saving advice, a volunteer who runs a great Support Group, or someone who’s made a breakthrough in glaucoma research.
To nominate someone who has made a real difference to you, please either email or write and tell us:...
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