Staff member Alison Logan has helped in the development of Scotland’s first national ophthalmic nursing degree course.

The course has just started at Glasgow Caledonian University, including two NHS Lanarkshire colleagues – staff nurse Rhona Wilson and staff nurse Theresa Jacovelli, both based at Hairmyres Hospital.

Alison, clinical manager/senior charge nurse in ophthalmology, explained: “Just over two years ago I had the privilege to become part of a National Ophthalmic Steering Group, comprised of senior ophthalmic nurses representing the majority of health boards in Scotland.

“As part of our remit we looked at the development of current services and the future of them, specifically the support that was and would be provided by nurses.

“It didn’t take us long to realise that in Scotland we had a big deficit in education and training for ophthalmic nurses and many of our colleagues had to travel to England to develop professionally within the specialty.

“The culmination of all our hard work has resulted in a collaboration with Glasgow Caledonian University and the Scottish Government, who heard about our efforts and agreed to fund the initial 20 candidates for the first National Ophthalmic Nursing Degree in Scotland.

“Each board has been allocated two places and it’s congratulations to Rhona and Theresa for being our pioneers on the course.”