The College of Optometrists recently held its 2nd Eastern regional event for local members at our Cambridge Campus. The event, which took place on 29 February 2012, was attended by over 70 practicing optometrists and provided valuable professional development opportunities, as well as the chance to network.

On the night, the University Eye Clinic hosted gonioscopy and Volk lenses workshops. The Volk workshop was run by Addenbrookes hospital's Consultant Optometrist Jonathan Kennan and former Anglia Ruskin optometry student Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, who currently practices at an independent optometrists in Cambridge. The gonioscopy workshop was run by Dr Dan Rosser, Principal Optometrist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Paul Reeves, optometrist, Norwich.

Optometrist Daryl Tabrett said, "The workshop was an excellent opportunity for me to use equipment that's mostly used in hospital optometry. It was useful to learn the theory, see a demonstration and then practice on a patient under the guidance of an experienced practitioner."

The workshop sessions were followed by a series of talks taking place in the Lord Ashcroft Building and introduced by Director of the University Eye Clinic and Trustee of the College of Optometrists Dr Peter Allen. Professor Madhavan Rajan of the Vision and Eye Research Unit's (VERU) discussed Innovations in lasers, light and lenses for anterior segment surgery and Professor John Wild delivered a lecture entitled "Will listening to this lecture benefit the patients that you see tomorrow and on Friday?".

Dr Peter Allen commented on the hosting of the event "The evening was a great success. We had 70+ delegates from around the East of England attend and hear two fantastic speakers give excellent presentations. The Lord Ashcroft building and University Eye Clinic was an ideal venue for this sort of event".

Regional events were introduced in 2009 and over 1000 optometrists have attended. Julie Hawkins, Events Manager at the College, commented, "Regional events offer members the opportunity to hear from leading professionals and stay up to date with the latest developments in eye health. We are delighted to offer members these free events, which also give CET points."