Get very good A'level results, acquire an optometry degree, pass OSCEs and then one of the first things said to you is for you to get your testing time down. That creates the real danger of focusing on quantity over quality - which won't serve your patients or you well.

A lot of optometrists hate the time pressure and the pressure to meet the sales targets, but also feel there is no option to that way of working. Let's face it, the dominant model in the UK is the rammed, rolling 20 minute clinic, where a lot of eye tests are done in a lot less than 20 minutes - where you will be under pressure if you don't meet the sales/KPI expectations.

We don't work like that - we do slow optometry. Quality not quantity.

It is working as we need more optometry cover, now we have created a brand new bigger space here in Sheffield.

We are a fully independent opticians - it's a shrinking cohort. But, we resist the offer to join the new big groups as being independnet means we do things the way we think is right - no HQ in Lancashire telling us what to do in Yorkshire.

If you fancy a chat about being an optometrsit here, drop us a message.

We have been designing new signage for our move to 68 John St - opening Friday 31st (closing here 23rd). Decided to put a blurb on one of the signs, which is always a challenge as I fear sounding a pretentious/precious. There is also a fear that people are rightly skeptical of mission statementy things as the reality and the vision are often quite different.

When we did the branding for Eyeye we did it with Justine Gaubert - who is something of a South Yorkshire legend. Her view was that we needed to be up-front about our ethical approach and it terrified me intially - it’s quite a thing to say - what does ethical mean? does it mean the same thing to everybody?

Anyway - we have kept to it and it the blurb on the new sign is a renewed commitment and remoinder to ourselves of what we are all about.

In previous roles I observed a lot of eye tests performed by other optometrists - mostly people knew I was there to watch and feedback and I did a few incognito. The incognito ones horrified me, at the end I didn’t know whether to break my cover and give them a hug or shop them to the General Optical Council. The hug came from the part of me that recognised they were miserable and clearly were not enjoying their work; the reporting them to the authorities came from the point of view that I didn’t think they were performing up to the standards our professional guidelines set out.

When I was there to observe, as part of their development, the theme was frustration. Frustration that their patients were not being listened to well enough, frustration that the issues they came with were not being addressed and frustration that when I raised this with the practitioner they were either in denial or that they thought they had to work like due to lack of time afforded to appointments by their employer. I couldn’t disagree with them, but when I had worked in places where they insisted on 20 min per patient diary I had refused and left if more time wasn’t allocated. I asked them why they put up with it, if they knew the care they were offering was compromised and those conversations petered out in a series of shrugs and muttering about pensions …

It’s all a bit sad, as you need high grades to get on to an optometry degree, the course is full on and then the registration year is hard graft with tricky professional assessments throughout and stressful practical exams at the end. Then after all that, once you past the first thing said to you - is “now you need to get faster”.

Why book eye tests in to too short a time and get unhappy patients and practitioners - well, it’s money isn’t it. See more, sell more.

When we set up Eyeye we didn’t want to feel rushed and we didn’t want patients to feel rushed either. It’s good for eye health and mental health to feel there is time to listen, explain and respond.

Almost 9 yrs in we don’t regret our slow model at all.