Spring again!

A lovely warm spring day, in August - long may the weather last! Visique is promoting a new prescription sunglass programme for 2012-13, so that will be exciting - new ranges,Hoya lenses and still very good value for the person who wants good sunglasses and needs a prescription to see through them. And I was working at a friend's practice yesterday - in Wellington - definitely didn't feel like spring. And each practice has a different group of patients - very obvious when you start working as a part-time locum and seeing several practices in a short period of time. It's not just geographical - Sercombe and Matheson has many people who live up in Kapiti but choose to work in town - but many of their patients are involved in central government, of course. It's more than that - each practice takes on the personality of its principals - young and trendy, older and more conservative, time for a chat, "get it done quickly 'cos I'm busy"....all different horses for courses. So, with several new practices opening up in greater Wellington, I know patients often ask if that is affecting business. The advertising is very obvious, and patients comment on how much they are aware of ads that just weren't there a few years ago. Yes, it can be a problem, especially if you want to retain staff in quiet times. And the advertising often tells only part of the story....*terms and conditions apply....but in the long run, I know our practice will be OK. Because we have so many lovely, loyal patients who have chosen me as their optometrist, their primary carer for their eyes. Not everyone shops at Kirk's, not everyone shops at the Warehouse.Some people like the impersonality of a large medical centre - there is always a doctor to see you, even if it is a different one each time. But many prefer a long-term relationship with one health provider - I'm like that - and I enjoy seeing patients over many years so I can know them and their eyes better. It improves my advice to them, and so the outcomes they get. Glasses aren't just glasses - more info you give your optom means that the most appropriate glassesare the ones you get.

A wet Monday...

...but we were busy this morning with patients, booked patients as well as walk-ins for frame adjustments and advice, and this afternoon it seems to be "rep day". All the "other" things that make optometry interesting. Our income comes, of course, from patients - we are not subsidised by the Government for any exams. (The Enable NZ subsidy, for children under 16 with a Community Services' Card, pays towards the cost of an eye exam, repairs and/or glasses, but that is not universal, only for people meeting certain criteria.) So, anyone who comes in and has an eye exam, visual fields exam, purchases contact lenses, lens solutions or spectacles, pays our wages (and the tax-man, and the bank and the suppliers and the landlord and ....) But in much of optometry, like any other "business", much of the time is spent doing "admin" - contacting suppliers, writing letters to specialists and GPs, tidying up the practice, calculating GST returns, doing continuing education, etc, etc. All necessary, but "doesn't pay the bills" directly. And all the extra work with patients - adjustments, helping select frames, appro-ing frames from suppliers - all fun but again "not paying the bills" directly.But it's all part of the profession, all part of the business. And it's all part of full-scope optometry, and that makes life interesting. Just refracting eyes, checking the power of glasses a person needs and saying "next!" is boring. It's part of the whole, but far from being the whole. I must need a cup of tea - too much philosophy for a wet Monday.