Optimism Health Group has acquired the UK’s leading provider of domiciliary eye care services in care homes through its purchase of Visioncall, which it announced this week.
This purchase followed the healthcare investment group’s 2020 acquisition of OutsideClinic, the UK’s largest provider of eye and hearing care to older patients in their own homes.
Henry Pitman, chairman of Optimism, said: ‘I am delighted that we have completed the acquisition of Visioncall, which is a well-established business providing a vital service to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
‘OutsideClinic and Visioncall provide complementary services – eye care at home and in care homes, and together deliver over 200,000 eye tests annually. The acquisition of Visioncall consolidates Optimism’s position as the UK’s leading domiciliary eye and hearing care provider.’
The company announced a campaign to add 50 optometrists following its acquisition of OutsideClinic, and Pitman told Optician the group now planned to recruit a further 20 optometrists to Visioncall to support the company’s growth.
Growing demand
Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns increased demand for domiciliary care at home as older patients who had struggled to reach optical practices decided against trying to attend. Now that lockdown restrictions have ended, however, demand has remained high.
Pitman explained that, while demand did increase during Covid, this was part of a long term trend: ‘Demand for domiciliary eye care has been increasing for several years. In 2010, 379,000 NHS domiciliary eye tests were delivered compared to 462,000 in 2020.’
He added: ‘Following the easing of restrictions, both OutsideClinic and Visioncall continue to see very strong patient demand.’
Pitman attributed this trend to a wider demographic shift in the UK: ‘As the UK population ages, and more elderly patients find it difficult to visit the high street, demand for all types of domiciliary healthcare will increase, particularly domiciliary eye care.’
Optimism expected domiciliary eye tests to grow from 3.5% of the eye market to 5% over the next five years as this trend continued.
Joining forces
Optimism confirmed Visioncall will continue to operate with its existing management team following the acquisition. However, the group said Visioncall would benefit from investment and centralised management support to accelerate its growth plans. Part of this support would involve OutsideClinic beginning to offer its hearing services to Visioncall’s established care home customers.
Pitman said Visioncall would continue to focus on providing services to patients in care homes and other institutional settings while OutsideClinic’s focus remained on providing services to patients in their homes. However, Pitman explained that Optimism planned to grow both businesses in tandem.
‘Optimism plans to grow the combined Visioncall and OutsideClinic to become a £100m turnover business,’ he said. ‘In order to achieve this objective, Optimism will make substantial investments in technology; further increasing its marketing and advertising commitments and expanding its recruitment efforts.’
The decision to purchase Visioncall, having recently acquired OutsideClinic, was made with the intention to bring benefits to both companies. ‘The domiciliary eye care market has been fragmented between several suppliers,’ said Pitman. ‘There are clear operational benefits to consolidation, allowing Optimism to provide comprehensive UK coverage with opticians living and working in the same communities as their patients.’
Pitman added that Optimism planned to continue investment in technology and digital platforms to raise its clinical and customer service standards. He also said Optimism was considering several further acquisitions in eye care and hearing, with the group planning to develop a national network of eye surgery clinics.