Clare Inkster

I began working in the Deanery in October 2013 having had a long standing interest in medical education. I am Manchester born and bred, and apart from a few years in Liverpool, where I went to medical school, I have remained in the North West. For the past 13 years I have been a consultant ophthalmologist at the Royal Bolton Hospital with a special interest in oculoplastic surgery.

I have held roles regionally as Training Programme Director for ophthalmology, as well as Regional Advisor. I still sit on the National Training Committee as Chair of the Quality of Assessment Subcommittee, and I was also involved in the development of national recruitment for my specialty. My educational interests include reflective practice, mentoring, assessment and international links.

In my current role as Associate Dean, I have responsibility for all the psychiatry specialties, including core, as well as patch responsibility for all the psychiatry trusts in the North West. In addition I have patch responsibility for Salford Royal, and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trusts. I have also been asked to work on developing reflective practice training across the Deanery.

Other roles I still hold include membership of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ Quality Standards Development Group, and membership of the VISION 2020 Links Steering Committee. The latter involves developing ideas for educational international eye care links between UK eye units and developing world partners. I personally lead a Link between the Guinness Eye Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, the Eye Unit at the Royal Bolton Hospital and the North Western Deanery.