The Isle of Man, situated in the Irish Sea, is a unique place. It is a Crown dependency with its own parliament and laws. As such, residents enjoy a number of optical benefits unattainable to those on either side of the water.
‘The Isle of Man is a fantastic place to live,’ says Caroline Lambah, practice manager at Boots Opticians in Douglas. ‘The TT is on at the moment so there are 1,000 leather- clad people about. Every-one’s loving it, it’s like a carnival.’
Lambah has been working at Boots for the past year-and-a-half and has been a Mann resident for 20 years. Her practice has three testing rooms and also offers audiology services. She says it is a ‘very popular practice’ that is often fully booked. ‘It’s a small island so news spreads fast. If you provide a great service, then you’re going to get people into store.’
Given the approach of summer, the practice has seen a number of its sunglass ranges like Ray-Ban, Armani, Boss, Police and Barbour have been ‘flying off the shelves’. She also says her store caters to a ‘diverse range of people, from children to adults’ and works hard to uphold its reputation in the town.
Ian Hodgson, optometrist and chairman of the Isle of Man Association of Optometrists & Registered Opticians, has worked at Patricia Wild Opticians in Douglas for the past 10 years. The smaller branch (the main one is in Ramsey) has one testing room, an OCT and an Intuitive Colorimeter.
The practice, located in the suburbs of Douglas, has an advantage over its competitors as ample parking means people reluctant to go into the town can easily access their optical needs. Hodgson says its client base is ‘fairly representative of the island’s population’.
Much of Hodgson’s recent work has been focused on the new Eye Care Strategy the island’s government has been consulting on. Part of the plan includes ‘having as many smaller services as possible being brought out of the local Noble’s Hospital and being provided in the community to free up space for Noble’s to deliver more clinical eye care services’.
At present, many Mann residents must travel to England to access care. Hodgson says this not only wastes valuable resources but is also a huge inconvenience to the people involved.
Who’s in town
Total: 8
Independents: 6
Multiples: 2
Average costs
Residents of the Isle of Man are entitled to one free eye exam every 12 months under the local NHS scheme. For more than one eye exam in a year, private rates apply.
Population
Population: 83,737
Community eye care
Residents of the Isle of Man can access eye care services both on and off the island, with this being paid for by their department for health and social care (DHSC).
Health and affluence
- The average price of properties in the Isle of Man is estimated it to be over £500,000 (2016), compared with a UK average of £223,257. Renting is not cheap either, averaging £1,000 per month.
- The average gross wage in 2017 was £851 a week, meaning the average yearly earnings on the island are around £40,000 (Isle of Man Government).
- Consultations have been conducted in order to bring more eye care services on-island, such as for AMD, which is currently provided by Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool.
Fact file
While it is technically a ‘possession’ of the Crown, having been bought by George I in 1765, the Isle of Man is not part of the UK. Nor is it part of the European Union.
The original language of the Isle of Man is called Manx. It is a Gaelic language that takes much influence from Irish Gaelic. The last native speaker, Ned Maddrell, died more than 40 years ago and now only 2% of the population have any knowledge of the language.
The Isle claims to have the oldest continuous parliament in the world. The Manx parliament was established in AD979 and has governed ever since. Its main contender, Iceland, established its parliament in AD930 but it was suspended for 45 years in the 19th century.
In 2016, the Isle of Man became the first entire nation to be awarded biosphere reserve status by Unesco.
The Bee Gees, pictured, are from the Isle of Man. All three Gibb brothers lived there until the 50s, when their parents moved to Manchester.