New technologies and a focus on customer care will present the opportunities for independent practices to fight their way out of the recession if practitioners make that choice.
This was the message at the annual Sight Care Group Conference in the Birmingham Hilton Metropole this week.
'The Choice is Yours' was the theme of the meeting and, greeting the 500 delegates, chairman Richard Petrie repeated his message of last year. 'You should run your business as well as you examine eyes and to the same level of attention and professionalism.' He said the next couple of years were going to be the toughest most practitioners will have faced. 'Taking advantage of new technologies will be more and more essential.'
He said all of the multiples were on the verge of announcing programmes aimed at promoting fundus imaging so it was more important than ever that independents got there first.
SCG chief executive Paul Surridge revealed to the meeting that the conference was now the largest collection of independents anywhere in Europe. Last year Surridge warned of recession and reiterated that some practices would suffer over the next 12 months. Practices would have to look at costs and ramp up their efforts to provide a perfect customer journey, but he said: 'Tough times create opportunities for those who seek opportunities.'
Surridge said Boots and D&A had said their merger could result in 200 new practices. 'All of those will be profitable so who will lose out? We must work hard to make sure it is not the independent sector or Sight Care members.'