Blue Monday, billed as the most depressing day of the year, proved to be anything but.
Overnight news of the Essilor Luxottica merger broke while Newport hosted the official opening of the first genuine integration of NHS optometry and ophthalmology in the high street.
The opening of the Austin Friars Eye Treatment Centre is contained within a state of the art Specsavers practice. As patients walk through the door they are all greeted in a similar fashion, some will go on to buy spectacles while others will undergo investigative techniques or receive intravitreal injections for AMD.
The day had the pomp of an official opening by the Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health but the efforts of those at the coalface was recognised. The nurses, DOs, practice and support staff and patients on hand were all given their due alongside the optoms, ophthalmologists, health board and Specsavers notables.
Now more patients are being seen more cost effectively and quicker than before in a manner convenient to them. So why can’t this happen everywhere? Health service politics and lack of leadership: a knot the Welsh Health Board and Specsavers have solved – Gordian style. As Doug Perkins pithily puts it: ‘We must just get on with it.’
The ethos of the centre was conveyed most powerfully by Craig MacKenzie, optometrist director at the practice. He spoke of the normalisation of sight-threatening disease, patients benefitting from being seen in the community alongside friends and family.
He was rightly proud of the centre and clearly proud of his two young, giggling daughters on hand to join the fun and bring a smile to those attending. It was anything but a Blue Monday in Newport.