Simon Jones: Does time really equal money?

In the name of consistent and fair editorial coverage, I don’t normally talk about fitness to practise hearings in op-ed columns, but this week’s news of an optometrist who had an average testing time of seven-and-a-half minutes across 48 patients raises some important questions about where high street optometry is today and where it’s going in the future. 

I think the best place to start is efficiency, something that all practices and businesses strive for, but should efficiency mean being a slave to a diary? 

Every patient is different in their needs and wants from a sight test, which is why, to me at least, putting a figure on the number of minutes an eye exam takes seems a bit strange.