To the Editor:

Bowes et al., on behalf of the Ophthalmologists in Training Group (OTG), completed an interesting survey of the career outcomes of those attaining Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in years 2007 to 2010, which was the first cohort of CCT holders to complete the Ophthalmology Specialist Training (OST) programme [1]. The OTG continues to observe the career outcomes of CCT holders, and recently conducted a survey of those attaining CCT in years 2011 to 2016.

Achieving CCT is the ultimate goal of OST, enabling the holder to work independently as a Consultant Ophthalmologist in the UK, and is widely recognised around the world. Here we present data on the outcomes of those awarded CCT in the years 2011 to 2016: regarding where they work; whether it is a substantive consultant post, locum or fellowship; and in which subspecialty.

A list of names and deaneries of those attaining CCT in 2011 to 2016 was obtained from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, then information on location, type of post, subspecialty, and whether or not they stayed in the same deanery was collated.

Four hundred fifty-five ophthalmologists attained CCT in the years 2011 to 2016, and detailed information was acquired on over 75% of these for location, type of post, deanery, and subspecialty. Ninety-one percent of CCT holders are in substantive consultant posts, with 3% in locum posts and 6% still completing fellowships. There was a relatively even spread throughout the main subspecialties (Fig. 1). Eighty-eight percent were based in the UK, with a slight majority of these within the same deanery in which they trained (Fig. 2). Destinations outside of the UK include Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus, Singapore, USA, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Consultant appointments by subspecialty

Fig. 2
figure 2

Consultant appointments by deanery

This provides us with a snapshot of the progress of recent CCT holders in the initial years after training, and demonstrates the success of OST in providing the UK with a Consultant Ophthalmology workforce, and reflects similar trends to those observed in the previous study of years 2007–2010 [1]. Of note just over half of trainees are employed as consultants within the same deanery in which they completed their training, and over 1 in 10 trainees have left the UK, although some may return after completion of fellowships.