College of Optometrists

28 June 2012 Return to news listings

In a few weeks time, approximately 18,000 athletes from 204 countries will begin to descend on London to take part in the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. To cater for the medical needs of the athletes and their support teams, a new state-of-the-art polyclinic has been built in the athletes’ village. The polyclinic will provide a complete range of medical services including eye care.

The eye care service has been designed by Prof David Thomson and Dr Penny D’Ath who have been involved with the project for the last three years.  “We have a fantastic team of optometrists, dispensing opticians, ophthalmologists and orthoptists from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England who are all providing their services free of charge”, said Prof Thomson. “We have superb equipment, great facilities and a talented multidisciplinary team.  Our aim is to provide a seamless service which will showcase UK eye care at its very best”.

The clinic will provide a full range of eye care services including screening, refraction, spectacle dispensing, contact lens fitting and after care and initial diagnosis and treatment of ocular injuries and diseases.  We will also be providing a full low vision service for the visually impaired athletes attending the Paralympic Games.

The clinic will operate daily from 6.30am to 11.15pm throughout an eight week period from 9 July to 12 September 2012. Based on the experience of previous games, it is anticipated that the eye clinic will be one of the busiest with up to 120 patients per day. “It will a busy few weeks, but it will be a once in a lifetime experience for everybody involved” commented Dr D’Ath.

Clinical leads
•    Prof David Thomson (Optometry)
•    Dr Penny D’Ath (Optometry)
•    Caroline Christie (Optometry)
•    Dr Clare Wilson (Ophthalmology)


Optometrist volunteers
•    Katherine Anguige
•    Nathanael Anguige
•    Gillian Bruce
•    Ruth Cuthbert
•    Ruth Davies
•    Lucy Hall
•    Fiona Hiscox
•    Byki Huntjens
•    Margaret Lawrence
•    Sara McCullough
•    David Parkins
•    Catherine Porter
•    Bharat Rughani
•    Karen Sparrow
•    Elaine Styles
•    Ellen Watkins
•    Robin Baker
•    David Bennett
•    Jessica Fielding
•    Jennifer Lee
•    Anthony Martin
•    Michael Offord
•    Sheetal Patel
•    James Wolffsohn

Dispensing and CLO volunteers
•    Chris Boyde
•    Suzy Connolly
•    Shaun Crome
•    Sue Daniel
•    Susan Gibbons
•    Laura Hing
•    Hamish MacDonald
•    Andrew Mace
•    Christopher Roberts
•    Vanessa Uden
•    Elizabeth Baron
•    Lee Davis
•    Helen Denton
•    Michelle Derbyshire
•    Sally Rosedale
•    Claire Ruddock

Ophthalmologist volunteers

•    Mr Oliver Comyn
•    Mr Julian de Silva
•    Miss Tessa Fayers
•    Mr Hari Jayaram
•    Mr Jake Low-Beer
•    Miss Yasmin Riaz
•    Mr Scott Robbie
•    Dr Karen Wong


Additional information

How many staff will look after the area at Games time?

A total of 16 optometrists and 10 dispensing opticians will be rostered for the Olympic Games and 8 optometrists and 6 dispensing opticians for the Paralympic Games. Each volunteer will work for a minimum of ten days.  The number rostered each day has been designed to match the anticipated demand throughout the Games period. In addition, we will have a team of 9 ophthalmologists who will provide a specialist on-call service.

What are typical cases you will treat/ what are you set up to treat?

The eye clinic will provide a spectrum of eye care including the management of acute eye conditions and trauma, full eye examinations and refraction, the supply and repair of spectacles and sport-related eye wear, the fitting of contact lenses and the management of contact-lens related problems. For the Paralympics, the clinic will provide a range of low vision services.

What equipment will there be at Games time?

The clinic is equipped with latest cutting edge instruments for the diagnosis and management of eye problems.  This includes computerised vision charts, computerised phoropters, corneal topographers, anterior segment imaging system, autorefractors, optical coherence tomography, scanning laser ophthalmoscope, visual fields equipment etc. The clinic will also be equipped with a state-of-the-art patient management system to collate and manage patient information.