Fear should not hold back independent optical practices from adopting a 100% private business model, attendees at Optix (November 16-18) heard during a panel discussion.
Presentations from four practice owners were made about why they had ended general ophthalmic services (GOS) and the most important considerations for switching to a private business model.
Anthony Josephson, optometrist and director at Maskell + Josephson in Cheshire, discussed reviewing its pricing model as part of the process to only providing private eye care.
He told delegates to review their fees inside and outside the consulting room. ‘Make the change because the vast majority of independent opticians have been scared for too long to charge what they feel they are worth. It is up to the independent sector to say “We are professionals. We are worth this amount.”’
Keval Sejpar, optometrist and director at McAusland Optometrists in Exmouth, told delegates to brace themselves financially when going private.
He said cash flow would be hit when the switch was made, sharing his practice went from being fully booked to now doing 32% fewer eye examinations.
However, Sejpar said there was more value in the eye examinations that were being carried out than when GOS was used.
Sejpar said practices must figure out why they want to go private and then make sure the practice feels premium. He added practices must be sure what it costs to run a clinic and not be afraid to charge for the value of services provided.
Before Covid-19, 81% of sight tests carried out at McAusland Optometrists were GOS1 but the pandemic tipped the practice to going private.
Sejpar said the practice emerged from the pandemic as fully private and it felt clinically liberating because there was no longer a basic option and patients chose to visit the practice for its services.
David Bennett, optometrist and partner at Brooks and Wardman Optometrists in Nottingham, presented on communications with patients.
He said everyone in the room knew GOS was broken but patients do not need to know that. He added that not mentioning the NHS was key to communications because of its brilliance.
Bennett distinguished that it was GOS that had failed and not the NHS, but private practices should never apologise for ending GOS at their practice.
He said the first email to patients announcing the move to private services should avoid any negative language and should be drafted several times to achieve the right tone.
‘When I went private, getting the communications right was one thing I worried about. How do I talk to my NHS patients? We’re all communicators, we do it every day and we’re brilliant at it, but in letter format it’s very different because patients do not read it how we do.’
Katie Fenn, director at Coleman Opticians in Norwich, said fear was the answer to why everyone in the room had not gone private already.
‘We were terrified,’ she said.
Coleman Opticians has offered private services for only 18 months and before ending its GOS contract, GOS was 87% of its patient base.
She explained going private provoked patient backlash and it took a lot of time to explain why they were no longer entitled to free eye care at the practice.
Fenn said getting the team on board was the most important part of the process. Do this, she said, and the practice was 75% of the way there to being a successful private provider.
‘Everything else will fall into place around your team. It is your team that is ultimately going to sell this for you,’ she said.
Hearing out audiology
John Manley, audiologist at Viewpoint and Optix, spoke about how the York-based practice introduced audiology to its range of services.
Discussing investment in equipment, Manley quickly accumulated a large bill which included soundproofing a testing room, an audiometer and a microscope.
To create awareness of the services and to build a patient base, he said, Viewpoint invited existing optical patients for a free hearing test and told patients about available hearing care plans.
Lewis Chisnall from hearing care supplier Widex then discussed the market potential of audiology and why optical practitioners should consider adding these services.
Chisnall said of patients aged over 50 years old, 90% have some form of hearing loss and patients were looking for services after placing more importance on their health during the pandemic.
He shared that the average pair of hearing aids cost £2,000 and two a week were sold at a single site dispenser with a full clinic, or 70 to 100 pairs a year on average.
However, during the question and answer session, Ryan Leighton from Leightons Opticians and the Hearing Care Partnership, said the financial potential for an optical practice had been overstated.
Leighton said in his 17 years of operating hearing care services in optical practices, it would be hard work to generate that kind of revenue and the numbers presented were beyond reality.
Software solutions
After five pandemic-related cancellations, Optix returned to Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales and welcomed 453 of delegates, including eye care professionals, independent optical practice owners and industry suppliers.
Trevor Rowley, managing director at Optix, detailed updates to Optix software, including a preview of Optix 2, MySight2 and its integrated audiology platform Audix.
Updates included a new easy to use diary interface, which offered a fresh look, and can be used in parallel with version one of Optix.
Rowley said it could be used on desktop and tablet, as a front of house app for booking appointments and checking patients in.
A simplified appointment details page had been created with a search function that displayed recently viewed and live results.
Rowley also outlined the launch of MySight2, which he said would be a quicker, simplified booking system for patients with admin completed by trained practice staff.
Achieving excellence
TV personality Gyles Brandreth hosted the three-day event and introduced a series of special guest speakers.
David Hyner, from Birmingham, discussed setting massive goals to achieve dreams during his Smart Goals Don’t Work session.
He shared that everyone has a good voice that tells us to have a go at something and a bad voice that focuses on risks.
Hyner explained that fear of uncertainty stops progression and assumptions protect us from failing, or prevent us from, more importantly, succeeding.
Hyner encouraged delegates to be the person who wants change by setting a massive goal and taking steps to achieve it. He recommended drawing a pyramid plan, which acted as a big to-do list, that put the most important goals at the bottom to be carried out first and then worked through smaller tasks to the top of the pyramid.
He explained when setting a massive goal, it was important to have a reason why and then seek out the expertise of someone who had done it and ask for mentorship. If the person setting the goal did not know about what they were trying to achieve then they should seek to find out and surround themselves with a group of master minds to create success, as well as provide support and accountability.
On the second day, one of Great Britain’s most successful Olympians, Sir Chris Hoy, spoke about how success depends on how an individual deals with change.
He discussed his journey to become Olympic champion at Athens in 2004 and how he prepared for an event that would play a big part in the rest of his cycling career.
Hoy said the team’s psychologist asked him what he would do if someone broke the world record on the night before he had set a time. Hoy explained he wouldn’t think about it, which his psychologist said would not be possible, comparing it to when someone says: ‘Don’t think about a pink elephant.’ Naturally, you do.
Hoy explained he started to plan for the process and think about riding the perfect race to displace anxious thoughts, which was a method he used in Athens. Whenever he visualised the perfect race, the stress passed and he could focus again. After watching records repeatedly be broken in Athens, he did it himself and won gold.
Hoy explained practitioners should focus on what they have control over and success will happen. If change occurs then take ownership and adapt as it might be the best thing that happens to them, Hoy concluded.
Duncan Slater shared his story of becoming a double amputee while working as a sergeant in the RAF in 2009. He was on patrol in the Helmand region of Afghanistan when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.
After suffering breakages to most bones in his body, he had a choice to be wheelchair bound or opt for both legs to be amputated below the knee. He chose amputation and described to delegates his journey since.
Prior to amputation, a surgeon told him he would not be able to walk again but Slater did not believe him and set about going to rehab and getting as fit as possible.
His injuries meant he could not stand for longer than a minute without pain and was advised that if he wanted to achieve his goal of walking his daughter to school then amputation was necessary.
It was at that point he decided to take control of his life again and he has since cycled from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, raising money for charity. He has been on expeditions to the South Pole that were not thought possible for amputees and completed a desert run in Morocco, but most importantly he has been able to walk his daughter to school.
During a dinner at Optix, delegates raised £31,172 for Walking With the Wounded, a charity that Slater works with to provide support to veterans. Optix said it would match this amount pound for pound.
Entrepreneur and star of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, Deborah Meaden, spoke about setting up a flower stall as a young girl before becoming a bingo caller and eventually selling a business for £83m.
She shared it was important to maintain a flexible business plan that was reviewed every six months.
Journalist Piers Morgan was the final speaker of the weekend and was interviewed about his career by Brandreth. He asked about Morgan’s path to becoming the youngest editor of the News of the World before taking questions from the audience about racism in cricket, politics and the royal family.
Optix will return in 2023 with a clinical programme run by Topcon University on March 11-12, which will be followed by the Optix conference on March 13-15.