The future is hybrid

In the wake of the pandemic and first UK lockdown, as hospital clinics were being cancelled and community services inundated with acute appointments, I was busy building a new practice.

Unbeknown to me at the time, this was to become the first independent practice in the UK to offer a combination of high end optical retail, specialist optometry services, community ophthalmology delivered by independent prescribing optometrists, private ophthalmology services delivered by consultant ophthalmologists, ophthalmic procedures and hearing care.

When I opened my first practice five years ago, starting from scratch, I aimed to build a premium practice with specialist optometry services and high end optical retail. That said, I had not really thought much beyond opening and surviving the dreaded first two years. I certainly had not envisaged that year five would see us trading as Kent Ophthalmology and offering multi-specialty clinical and surgical procedures.