For Michael O’Kane, winner of Optician’s Optometrist of the Year Award for 2018, being a good optometrist not only means being good at providing the clinical side of care – investigating, diagnosing and treating conditions – but also knowing how to counsel patients and ‘when the right time to refer is’.
He was encouraged by friends and colleagues to enter the award, which he did not expect to win due to ‘the quality of the other contenders’, because of all the effort he has put into his work since opening his Specsavers practice in 2009. A major strength of his approach, he says, is his ability to read people and situations, adjusting his conversations to suit the patient he finds himself with.
‘It’s important to know when to counsel a patient, when it’s not necessary to refer, and to reassure them that you are here to help if things get worse,’ says O’Kane. ‘Safeguarding patients’ independence and quality of life is a top priority of mine.’
‘I think it’s vital to understand the psychology and science of vision too,’ he says. ‘It’s our responsibility to continue to further the field and get better at acknowledging the relationship between eye health and overall health in our patients.’ He actively tries to get his patients to share their experiences of the relationship between their health and eyes, either through Specsavers’ platforms or by telling friends and family, but he says it can be difficult as some feel embarrassed or shy.
O’Kane was vice-chair for Optometry Scotland, which he believes helps him understand how best to advance the profession by improving the services available to patients, as well as their access to them. ‘As optometrists, we can help directly by not wasting time with things that we can sort ourselves, taking the burden off GPs and hospitals,’ says O’Kane.
‘The key is to consider not just the patient and improving their knowledge, but also improving the overall aspect of care,’ he says. ‘We should be able to try and enhance services by thinking about how to better deliver that service, what piece of equipment would allow us to do that and how to promote the profession, so patients come into the optometrist rather than the GP.’
The Northern Irish-born optometrist has not yet ‘figured out how to do downtime’. He does CET tests and quizzes on his days off and is routinely revisiting what he does in practice, such as the various clinics he provides. ‘I’m always trying to see the world from that chair, and what I can do to improve things for patients,’ he says.
‘I enrolled on a paediatric optometry course and have done an independent prescribing course,’ he explains. ‘I make it a point to try and learn more about the conditions that affect my patients so that I know what I’m talking about.’ O’Kane has a particular interest in children’s eyes and has created a fun environment for them in the practice through the use of magic tricks and games.
He says his skilled team in the Morningside practice are a great source of support and that they can ‘predict what I am going to ask them to do before I do’. ‘The team support me very much,’ he says. ‘I think they respect me as well, and often say “I’ll go and ask Michael’s advice”, which is a real compliment.’
O’Kane’s service and professionalism has been attracting more and more people to the south-Edinburgh practice, with the award only serving to increase the number of people coming through the door. ‘There are quite a few new recommendations coming through, and I assume part of them are due to the accolade of the Optician Award, as well as word-of-mouth,’ he says.
‘It’s really nice when patients come in to ask about the award or say, “Oh, I heard that you won an award”,’ says O’Kane while blushing slightly. ‘I don’t like bragging and I don’t take compliments as comfortably as I should.’ That being said, O’Kane has still used the award for self-promotion, attaching the banner to the bottom of his email signature. ‘On paper I can brag,’ he jokes.
Despite his recent success O’Kane has kept his feet firmly on the ground. This is in part thanks to his children who, when he returned from the ceremony with the award in his hand, ran straight past him for the donuts he had bought as a celebration. ‘My wife was incredibly proud though,’ he adds.