The midst of the coronavirus pandemic is a strange time to start a job, especially one as the chief executive of the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) when many practices are providing a much-reduced service. Luke Stevens-Burt succeeded the former chief executive Cheryl Donnelly and took up his position in April. The new chief set out his vision for the BCLA in an open letter to its members where he detailed his plans to focus on professional development and raising the profile of the profession.
Covid-19’s impact on the start of Stevens-Burt’s tenure has been considerable but has not deterred his focus. He explained: ‘This situation is far from ideal, but I’m managing through. Fortunately, the team are used to working remotely and I certainly have worked remotely enough in the past to understand the requirements of it and how it works. The difficulty of it is starting with a new team and in a new organisation.’
Stevens-Burt has a range of experience in leadership roles dating back to his time in the army prepared him for. ‘I think those with leadership experience in the armed forces are well equipped to take on a variety of leadership roles; the character attributes that are developed there are those I brought into my past roles and I’ll certainly bring them into this position. I really forged my leadership capabilities in the armed forces, but not just that. There’s also the perspective of valuing determination and grit.’
Following his military career, Stevens-Burt immediately entered a leadership position at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, one of many such professional organisations he draws experience from. He elaborated: ‘I’ve been exposed to a variety of sectors including the health and care sector, and have developed an understanding of the challenges involved as well as an understanding of what medical specialists do and find most pertinent to their roles.’
Alongside his leadership roles within professional organisations Stevens-Burt has also contributed an influential role to the Society of the Association of Membership Professionals (SAMP). ‘Being part of the steering group that launched SAMP has really provided me with great knowledge and understanding of the professional bodies ecosystem. There’s not an 100% perfect formula that one can apply, but the key things around membership engagement and professional services are essential across the board. Engagement is about developing a relationship with members, finding out what they want and ultimately delivering what they need.’
Role and function
With such an expansive perspective on professional membership organisations, Stevens-Burt has a clear view of what he perceives the function of the BCLA to be. He explained: ‘Membership organisations are exactly that, they should be led by the members. What’s important is how we engage with our members and how we use the feedback we get to understand their challenges and apply it appropriately. While we are servicing our members, they are servicing the public and ultimately that makes the public the beneficiary for our services. The BCLA isn’t just here for enhancing professional standards, it’s part of the delivery channel to improving the health and wellbeing of the public.
‘The BCLA is represented by the members insofar as we have a council made up by highly experienced professionals who are either in academia or caring for patients in their day-to-day practice. The committee is representative of the profession by their experience.’
In terms of what members of the BCLA are looking for, Stevens-Burt believes three things are essential. ‘Professional recognition is the first, whether that comes through post-nominals, additional qualifications or improved standing. Second is keeping up to date and knowledge development. The third, which often gets overlooked, is the sense of belonging and community. It’s one thing to belong to a specialism, but when you start digging into a sub-specialism like contact lens practice that sense of belonging is incredibly important.’
Improving standing
Also on the agenda for Stevens-Burt is improving the BCLA’s standing internationally, both to increase the size of the membership and to improve practice through professional development. He explained: ‘We want to grow internationally as well as internally. Generally speaking, British bodies have a long, rich professional history and are highly respected internationally. We’re part of that rich history and can bring those respected standards of service and engagement to practitioners across the globe.’
The BCLA’s Asia conference has seen success in recent years, prompting the BCLA to become interested in what it can offer the Far East and South East Asia. ‘In two years, we’re looking to hold another conference in Asia. Through that and through sharing our journal we can put our services and products in front of a wider audience and bring them into the fold,’ explained Stevens-Burt.
Improving the standing of the BCLA through technology is also an interest of the new executive’s, with specific mention made of smart-contact lenses in his open letter to members. Stevens-Burt explained: ‘It’s not a case of what we will do to respond to tech solutions and smart contact lenses, but more the case that I expect these technologies to be widely adopted. As a society we’re slimming down on the amount of devices that we own, they’re getting smaller, so putting biotechnology into a contact lens is very exciting because it meets this futuristic feeling of using technology in an integrative way.
‘There’s a telemedicine aspect to smart contact lenses too, there’s research showing that they could be used to track, diagnose, help treat and triage diseases in the eye and throughout the body. This technology is close to being available and as an organisation we have to accept that if it’s out there then a large portion of the population are going to want to use it. In that case, we need to make sure that we continue to provide guidance on the use and issuing of smart contact lenses, but we also need to tap into the general enthusiasm around the technology and support the practitioners that would be dispensing them.’
Stevens-Burt shared that in a future where smart contact lenses were commonplace, the role of the BCLA would remain much the same: ‘In that situation we’d be doing what we’ve always done; providing clear advice and supporting our members.’
Coronavirus
When the coronavirus pandemic first began to become a widespread issue in the US and UK there were a number of stories circulated throughout mainstream news that suggested contact lens wearers should opt for glasses instead because of the risk of infection through the eyes that contact lenses created. Stevens-Burt made clear his feelings on these stories: ‘We researched this subject, looked at the evidence and published appropriate guidance. There is no evidence to suggest contact lens use is putting anyone at greater risk, provided they carry out the standard proper hygiene practices. In that sense, nothing has changed.
‘At this point, it’s not clear whether there’s been any reputational damage to contact lens use, although there’s no evidence to suggest that’s happened. Because new statements have been published and there is guidance for the public to reference, one would hope that they go back to wearing contact lenses.’
Stevens-Burt is unworried about the effects of these stories, concluding: ‘Ultimately, contact lens wearers want to wear them and they’ll be more interested in the reason that they can carry on doing so. All we can do is continue to play our part to put information in the hands of the public through our members.’