Letters: June 9

In response to ‘Lumen’ and by way of a general update on Daysoft-direct I would like to make some observations.

Recognising the dangers of ambiguity surrounding the interpretation of the changes to the Opticians Act I emailed/wrote to the GOC on May 12 2006 and asked for a meeting. I received a reply on May 24 asking me to write setting out specific issues on the basis that, if I did this, then consideration would be given to having such a meeting. I emailed/wrote on May 31 and attached a list of concerns/observations and await a response. I hope that I will get a meeting because I feel that it could be of mutual assistance in helping to promote the development of the UK contact lens market.

I have no wish to make negative comments but the Daysoft team and I are extremely disappointed at the conduct and comments made by others in this period. For example, the BCLA publicly announced that it had reported us to the GOC… a phonecall would have outlined that we were in the process of consultation with the GOC prior to their making such damaging comments. The same applies to the ACLM. Others, who spend their days writing vile personal attacks on ‘optometry’ websites are not worthy of comment, at this time.

Turning to Daysoft-direct. I can confirm that after one month of operation it is proving to be extremely well received with 89 per cent of customers coming from non-rebated multiples and/or supermarkets. Our rebate process for the 11 per cent of independent customers also works well and is easily funded by the margins made on the above, non-rebated, business.

Our ‘brand-matching’ system works extremely effectively. The mechanism involved is part of our company intellectual property so is not all in the public domain, for obvious reasons. It has been robustly tested by tens of thousands of lens ‘converts’ previously wearing one of 40 different brands. I have been involved in contact lens design, evaluation and process engineering for a considerable time and did not describe what we are doing as ‘revolutionary’ without good cause.

Daysoft-direct opens up the daily-disposable CL modality to those two million UK CL wearers who still ‘clean’ their lenses. It puts control back in the hands of the independent opticians and will grow the CL market more than any other initiative. It is the most constructive development in delivering healthier eyes to CL wearers in the last decade, as anyone following the ReNu with MoistureLoc situation, for example, will recognise.

The ‘Daysoft-direct’ system (direct-supply with margin-sharing to independents who fit our lenses) is the only business model capable of beating the axis of the big manufacturers who have all elected to supply the big multiples/supermarkets. I know we are directly over the target because the flak from these vested interests has been very intense!