Brexit: What are the consequences?

YO Chair

Andrew Scott, MD, FRCOphth, MRCSEd, PhD, Fellow at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, Chair of SOE Young Ophthalmologists, OSN Europe Edition Board Member

There are two considerations I would like to make. First, the outcome of the UK’s EU referendum lays bare the difference between generations. The past European Board of Ophthalmology had to face the attitude of the older generation of British ophthalmologists who refused to take part in the EBO exam because the standard was, as they said, below what they did in their country. On the other hand, there is now a considerable number of young ophthalmologists who are eager and willing to sit the EBO examination and are very focused on what is going on outside the UK. The different attitudes of these two generations have clearly emerged in the voting behavior in the UK. A second consideration comes from the primary aim of the EBO, which is to harmonize ophthalmology throughout Europe and make it strong, and Europe, for me, includes the UK — there is no question about that.