Can the surgeon claim tax relief on conference and medical equipment

A friend of mine need to claim back four years of expenses. While claiming on subscriptions is clear.

There seems to be a grey area over international conferences and medical equipment. He is a surgeon working solely for the NHS. He has an appraisal once a year and it is stated in his appraisal that he must attend various conferences to present a paper. While claiming for conferences is restrictive under EIM31950 as the conference needs to be within Section 337 ITEPA 2003 as necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of the employment. I would argue attending these conferences are mandatory since they are mentioned in his appraisal and secondly he needs to have this knowledge to carry out his duties hence he should get tax relief. The NHS has not reimbursed any expenditure for air, hotel, travel or subsistence in relation to the conferences he has attended

On capital items he has purchased a very expensive goggles for pound £1700 and headlights for pound £500. The head surgeon mentioned to him via email that the goggles are required to perform his duties. The head lights were less important. Can he claim tax relief for international conferences and medical equipment. I do not think he would be entitled to capital allowances ?