NHS to broadcast live cataract surgery

A cataract surgery will be broadcast on live TV today as part of the Annual Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS).

The surgery will be televised via satellite from the Prince Charles Eye Unit at King Edward VII Hospital Windsor, with Richard Packard, ophthalmic surgeon for the Royal Berkshire foundation trust, as clinical director for the day.

He will be joined and assisted by Mina Ward, clinical lead practitioner at the Prince Charles Eye Unit and nine leading cataract and refractive eye surgeons from across Europe.

Mr Packard comments: “This will be a great chance to see a team of international surgeons using the latest technologies.

“We have transmitted live surgery in previous years to the UK conference of United Kingdom and Ireland Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (UKISCRS) but this year our live surgery is part of the main agenda for the European congress.”

He added that the “eyes of the world” will be focussed on the Prince Charles Eye Unit as the surgery is performed.

Around 5,000 delegates are expected to attend the annual conference, which organisers say makes it the largest ophthalmology congress in Europe and the second largest in the world.

The Prince Charles Eye Unit runs a post graduate teaching course alongside normal activities, which aims to prepare ophthalmologists preparing for their final fellowship examination.

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