The 2017 EGS Members' Meeting, which was hosted and perfectly organized by Professor David (Ted) Garway-Heath, was held in historical Church House, Westminster, London and was characterized by a new format. Firstly the meeting was preceded by the Next Generation Partnership event (NGP), organized by the Cochrane Collaboration and the EGS for young european glaucoma specialists and their senior mentors. Secondly the Members' Meeting itself adopted a new workshop format in which interactive small groups worked together to reach the meeting objectives.

Over 100 members attended this inaugural NGP event, which had the theme Excellence in glaucoma care- how to get the best evidence to achieve it. Attendees were led through a very interesting journey on how to critically analyse scientific literature and were introduced to the new concept of a 'live systematic review'. In this concept new data from emerging clinical trials is continually incorporated in the review system.

An interesting tool, the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP, http://www.casp-uk.net/casp-tool-checklists) was introduced as a critical appraisal resource to interpret published research (randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and case control studies). Other guidelines mentioned were the PRISMA check list for preparation of a systematic review (http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/prisma) and QUADAS-2, a tool to evaluate the risk of bias and applicability of primary diagnostic accuracy studies (http://bristol.ac.uk/population-health-sicences/projects/quadas/quadas-2/).

The goals of the NGP special interest group (SIG), which was founded at this occasion, include improvement of the relevance and quality of science, increased interactions with the different national societies and involvement in the development of the next edition of the EGS guidelines, which is planned for the 40th anniversary of the EGS in 2020.

The EGS Members' Meeting during the next two days was focused on the Definition of glaucoma and measurable outcomes of glaucoma care. Together with representatives from the American Glaucoma Society, a very interactive set of sessions took place setting the base for several workshops on defining outcomes and milestones for their implementation throughout Europe.

Professor Harry Quigley, USA, highlighted the difficulty in even producing a concise definition of glaucoma that would satisfy all glaucoma specialists.

A spectrum of measures for glaucoma was introduced in detail including clinical, societal and patient-centred outcomes. In a landmark moment, a patient representative talked about keeping the focus on the patient's needs as an individual.

A skilled facilitator guided through the discussions and the following workshops. The new workshop format allowed a lot of discussion which involved all the participants. To summarize the results, an interactive tool based on a web site voting system was used.

The conclusions of the discussions and the workshops will lead to a 'White Paper' that will generate a roadmap to promote excellence in glaucoma care across Europe in the coming years.

In the final closure talk, the president of the EGS, Professor Anja Tuulonen, thanked all the participants for the interesting discussions and mentioned that the new format was well accepted by almost 90% of the participants.


Frances Meier-Gibbons
Next Generation Partnership members Miriam Kolko, Hari Jayaram, Luis Pinto and Manuele Michelessi