Fist of all, for those of you reading that are not on the world of optics, thank you! Please do read on because it will give a little insight into my clinical career outside of the consulting room. By way of a brief explanation, continuing education and training, (CET), is mandatory for optometrists. It covers eight competencies and includes methods of ophthalmic examination, contact lenses and ocular disease. We must obtain a minimum of 36 points over a three-year cycle, a proportion of which must be interactive. To obtain interactive points, we usually attend lectures, workshops and peer discussions.

iCET is a small company that provides great value, comprehensive, interactive CET. It runs courses throughout the UK where delegates can earn up to 12 interactive points in one fell swoop. The content covers all eight required competencies. I went to the Leeds event last Sunday. In the interest of transparency, I should say that the organisers invited me to attend free of charge, in return for mentioning iCET on social media, something I did at the time. However, I was so impressed, I decided to write a review.

iCET Format

The format is simple. Delegates sit at tables of 8-10. There are four topics with pointers and guidelines which we discuss, make notes on and feed back to the event leader,  table-by-table. The topics were: Vision Care For Homeless People, Contact Lenses in Practice, Walking In A Low-Vision Patient’s Shoes and Making Accurate GOS Claims In Practice.  (The latter refers to provision of NHS eye tests and vouchers). Each and every subject was interesting, relevant and useful. And I must say it was refreshing to cover something different to the more usual glaucoma and red-eye.

I particularly enjoyed the low-vision workshop in which we simulated common conditions to see how difficult everyday tasks are. It gave at least some insight into how conditions such as macula degeneration and glaucoma affect our patients.

This iCET event was as enjoyable as it was educational. It provided networking opportunities and it was great to connect with fellow professionals and sponsors. I recommend future events to optometrists and dispensing opticians alike. I’ll definitely go again next year.

Thank you to Stuart Wellings from iCET for inviting me and thanks again to those readers who are still reading, who aren’t optical.