Sidmouth-based practice McShaw Optometrists scooped two trophies on Awards night. Frederick McShaw won the Optometrist of the Year Award, while the practice picked up the Software Practice of the Year Award,sponsored by See 20/20.
Software is one of those issues many practices find difficult to engage with, or see the value of, but it was exactly McShaw's ability to demonstrate to the judges its use of software that won it the top prize.
'Software has an increasingly essential role throughout the practice from the admission of patients,their clinical care andthe processing of their orders, to the strategic management of the practice. It carries outmyriad functions that would take endless hours to achieve manually,' says Frederick McShaw.
The practice's approach to choosing the right software was methodical. This included the Ocuco software package which was chosen by the directors after extensive research of the systems available. Other elements were chosen by the staff whowould have to use them.
Future compatibility
'Selecting the software was always a high profile task and whileit is not always possible we wanted the products we purchased to be as future- proof as possible,' McShawsays.
The practicealso investigated bespoke products and offerings from start-up companies.'Both were ruled out,' he says. 'They were not able to deliver the breadth of functions our business needed at a realistic price for such a small company as ours. That's why we chose companies with a solid reputation for quality and future investment. Integration of the many platforms was the constant hurdle to overcome. We knew when we first began we would want one day to have digital instruments that could be hospital standard and have the capacity to be integrated throughout the whole practice.'
McShawtookthe opportunity to try out imaging products from different suppliers and was particularly impressed with Haag Streit. 'The quality of the images, combined with the subsequent ability to manipulate them were, for me, by far and away the best,' he says.
'The Ocuco software with its ability to provide domiciliary and practice data management joined us at the beginning of our company in 1999 and it has grown with us. The team in 2003 reviewed the software available on the market and independently chose Ocuco.Other software for tasks, such asdesktop publishing and the like,isselected for its ease of use bythe team members who use itthe most.
The acid test of software's usefulness is what it allows the practice to do, says McShaw.'Clinically, the software enables the eye examination to be a process of sharing with the patientsrather than a procedure that is done to them. The ability to capture digital images and to manipulate them allows us to highlight certain areas or compare images. This has taken patients into a new world of understanding when it comes to their eyes.'
Outside the consulting room the software management tools havemeant patientorders are now more reliably managed and problems picked up sooner. Practice data canbe assimilated at the press of a button, rather than through hours of paper work.
'Efficiency is always a holy grail within small businesses and the software is enabling us to constantly improve our performance and deliver service with fewer errors to our patients,' he says.
Winning enthusiasm
Where the practicereally wins is having a technology enthusiast as an optometrist in Frederick, says Soo McShaw, practice manager. 'The team has grown to love the technology and software through its proven ability to ease their roles. None of the teamistechnically minded, in fact it's more the press button and hey presto that makes it so appealing to the rest of us.'
The practice is also lucky to have dedicated computer support worker Doug Richmond, who provides on-site trouble-shooting when needed,although, thankfully, says Soo, that is not that often.
Each member of staffhas his or her ownfavourite piece of software she adds.'If you spoke to each team member they would, like a box of Quality Street, all choose something different, depending on their roles.'
When pressed she singles out two pieces of equipment -the Haag Streit HRT with its three-dimensional image and tables for assessing glaucoma and the Heidelberg Retinal Topography HRT.
Frederick McShaw is more specific. 'Moorfields' Analysis Software for the prediction of glaucoma has got to be my favourite. It can detect nerve fibre changes up to eight years earlier than the standard visual field test. It's the only software that calculates optic disc volume of healthy/diseased nerve fibre.The second item is the recall capacity of Ocuco with its ability to identify and send different letters to different patients all at the press of a button.'
Winning two awards made the Awards night an extra special occasion for all the practice staff. 'We came as a team and whileboth directors were happy to be shortlistedthe remaining team members were sure we would win one award,' says McShaw. 'The celebrations have still not really stopped since. It spurs us on to continued improvement.'