Eye hospital group Optegra has appointed 13 optometrists in order to meet demand and increase its NHS and private treatments.
The team of optometrists completed online classroom learning, webinars, clinic shadowing and competency sign off as part of Optegra’s clinical training.
Dr Clare O’Donnell, head of Optegra Eye Sciences, said: ‘We are delighted to bring new optometric colleagues into our hospitals across the UK. This expansion of our clinical team is largely due to the increase in NHS cataract patients, as Optegra continues to commit to the NHS and helping to reduce the waiting lists for ophthalmic treatment.’
Among the appointments is 26-year-old Anim Razzak, who worked in community optometry for over four years and now works for Optegra at the Bradford hospital and Leeds clinic.
The optometrist has WOPEC minor eye conditions services and cataract accreditations, a certificate in glaucoma and planned to start a Higher Certificate in glaucoma at Bradford University.
Razzak would mostly work with vision correction patients and spend one day a week in either the cataract or age-related macular degeneration clinic after more training.
She aimed to work across all treatment areas offered by Optegra and said she is confident that more responsibility would shift from ophthalmologists to optometrists in the future.