Janet Hatt and Richard Llewellyn from Turners Optometrists in Bridgwater have set up a consultancy designed to help practitioners begin the journey of upgrading and charging for their clinical services.
The Eyecare Fees Consultancy is a five step programme of assessment and training designed to prepare practices for professional fees so that a direct debit system can be introduced at a later stage.
Llewellyn said setting up EFC was as a direct result of his experience in talking to practices which are looking to reposition themselves in the changing optometric market.
'What we are seeing is practitioners consciously improving their skills, services and equipment as part of building their business. Patients are getting better eye care and practices are winning on reputation and profitability. It sounds like a good answer to the Jamie Murray Wells of this world.'
Llewellyn said the importance of professional fees could not be underestimated. He introduced the EFC brochure with the statement: 'If you are not charging enough for your chair time your are competing with every unqualified person who decides to sell spectacles or contact lenses.'
The five steps offered by EFC are:
? Business assessment
? Clinical service programme
? Staff training
? Professional fees programme
? Team training.
EFC will sit alongside Foresight Eyecare which implements direct debit schemes for practices. In an interview with Optician earlier this year Llewellyn said practices were keen to implement direct debit scheme but many needed to prepare their practices before that was a realistic proposition.