Keith Barton

Consultant Ophthalmologist, Moorfields Eye Hospital; Professor of Ophthalmology, UCL; Co-Chair, Ophthalmology Futures Forums, London, UK

What industry trends are catching your attention right now?

The trend toward AI and home diagnostics – home OCT, and so on. It will be interesting to see if this can develop into an economically viable model in comparison with technician-based hubs for glaucoma and retinal diagnostics.

Make a bold prediction for the future of ophthalmology.

I think that we are at the beginning of an era where remotely collected diagnostics will increasingly become the norm, drastically reducing the number of face-to-face consultations. Simultaneously, I expect that robotics will slowly creep into high volume repetitive surgical interventions, such as cataract surgery and intravitreal injections.

What global trends in eye health should ophthalmologists be aware of?

My greatest fear is that the current trend towards transaction-driven healthcare, which is becoming especially prevalent in ophthalmology, will result in suboptimal surgical intervention and treatment for patients (in other words, patients receive multiple interventions that pay well but are less efficacious than more appropriate and less financially remunerative treatments). Glaucoma is a good example where this is already happening, and this effect is currently feeding on itself through reduced training experience in more effective procedures.