Being named Independent Practice of the Year at the Optician Awards 2021 was the icing on the cake after a difficult two years for Nottingham-based Park Vision.
Michelle Beach, optometrist and founder of Park Vision, tells Optician that spending awards night with the entire practice team was a special occasion following the challenges of lockdown. ‘I didn’t expect to win because we’re quite a small independent. We’ve got the award on the shelf at Park Vision. We’re very proud of it and I think all our patients are too,’ she says.
Beach says the Optician Awards is an important evening to celebrate everything that is great about optics and adds that if you are going to enter there is a lot of work to do. While self-nominating, Park Vision’s team reflected on every aspect of the practice and all they had achieved while navigating Covid-19. ‘We realised what we are doing and how much we are doing,’ she says. ‘It’s a really good way of bringing your team together, reflecting on what you do in optometry and why you do it.’
She says it takes passion, loving the profession and making every day about patients to be recognised as the Independent Practice of the Year. Patients are more selective about which optical practice they go to now, she says, so it is about surprising and delighting patients. ‘I don’t think the loyalty is what it was. People used to go to the opticians because their grandmother and their mother went there or they’ve been since they were little. Now, patients are prepared to try something new if they’re not happy. You have to go the extra mile every single time,’ Beach explains.
A nicer experience
Park Vision’s team sets about creating a personal experience for each patient by treating them as they would expect family and friends to be treated. Tea, coffee, chocolates and stickers for children are some of the extras Park Vision provides, as well as knowing each patient by name and allowing for longer testing times.
Beach explains: ‘From the moment they walk through the door, you have to create a special environment. I can’t get over how many people say they hate having their eyes tested and choosing glasses. But then they come to us and the amount that say, “Oh, my goodness. I didn’t realise that choosing glasses could be so much fun.” We have to be excellent clinicians but patients are still buying something and they want to walk out that door feeling great. That’s our job, to make them feel that they’ve been well looked after when they leave the practice.’
Clinical excellence is achieved at Park Vision by staying on top of education and maintaining a passion for learning. Beach shares that a lot of the technology she uses on a daily basis did not exist when she first qualified. She finds that patients take an interest too. Beach says: ‘They want to see the back of their eye. They’re interested why their eyes are dry and they want to be educated. Patients are used to looking at pictures and if you spend the time explaining why you’re making decisions, patients are interested. So many of them say, “Wow, I’ve never seen that image before. I didn’t realise that’s how it works.” It makes it a nicer experience. You feel that you’ve shared something with them, and they’ll come back.’
Refurbishing plans
At the start of the pandemic, Park Vision closed its doors but stayed open like many optical practices did. Adapting to new ways of working became a little easier as the practice already operated on an appointment-only system for eye examinations and collections. Consultations were provided via Advanced Ophthalmic Systems telemedicine platform and patients benefitted from the practice’s established relationship with local eye hospital services, as well as an ophthalmologist that provides private services from Park Vision. The practice carried out repairs, which they collected and delivered while socially distancing. When they eventually opened again, they eased patient concerns by creating a video to showcase how Park Vision had adapted but was ‘still Park Vision’.
Prior to the first lockdown, Park Vision completed a £100,000 refurbishment. Walls were knocked out, a frames studio created and events had been planned. ‘You can imagine all the things I thought after doing a hundred grand refit that got closed a month later,’ Beach says. However, she was determined it would not stop Park Vision. ‘I think you can either curl up in a corner and cry, or you can say, “Everybody’s in this situation. How do we make it work?”
Virtual coffee mornings were streamed for patients to ask questions about their eye health concerns, Zoom meetings with frame representatives were held, as well as a recorded Easter egg hunt for children. After opening its doors again when restrictions allowed, 410 new patients came to Park Vision. ‘It shows people are looking for somebody who is making an effort,’ Beach adds. This, she says, is why many independents have thrived since the pandemic started.
Community feel
Park Vision is based in the quiet castle quarter of Nottingham city centre. In order to create a sense of community around the practice, the team came up with the Park People concept to make patients feel part of the family. The idea was to create a practice tribe. Patients are used in practice advertising with photoshoots and catwalks held every year, including patients aged from six to 86. ‘We strongly believe everybody can look great in glasses and we don’t need models to do that. Our patients say it all,’ Beach explains. Patients are photographed in frames that are used on regularly updated light boxes in the practice. Beach adds: ‘It’s about being proud to wear glasses and being proud to be Park People.’ The scheme has generated recommendations with patients incentivised to tell friends and family about the practice with Park Points rewards that can be used for money off frames.
At the end of March, Park Vision held a fashion show with Paul Smith and Cutler & Gross in Nottingham. Families modelled contact lenses in sport kits, as well as older patients in stylish spectacles and sunglasses. Park Vision also involves local businesses in these types of events, with a jeweller providing some sparkle to Christmas marketing materials.
Parky the Park Vision Puffin is a character that was created to promote eye health by the practice’s brand and marketing manager, Camilla Anderson. Beach shares that when children visit the practice, they all love the glasses case, lens cloth and stickers. The idea behind Parky was to create an experience for children when they collect their spectacles, as well as an educational tool about related eye conditions, such as myopia. ‘It’s all about making sure their visit is a great experience. I think so many older people wearing glasses remember going to the opticians as quite a miserable experience. Particularly with myopia management and visual stress being so prominent, children should think coming to the opticians is a great thing to do,’ Beach says.
After refurbishment celebrations were delayed because of Covid-19, Beach is looking forward to getting back to holding events as well as attending trade shows to connect with colleagues in the profession again. Park Vision is also exploring the idea of adding another examination room dedicated to myopia management because it is a growing area for the practice. ‘We’re getting more referrals in. We did a Parky the Puffin myopia guide for parents to make it a little easier to understand,’ Beach says. She is also in contact with a paediatric consultant who is looking at low-dose atropine trials. Binocular vision in children is another area of Beach’s interests and with screen time use continually rising, a dedicated children’s room feels like the next steps for an award-winning practice.
