I started as a five day a week optom shortly after qualifying, but now I'm getting more involved in professional services, for example, contract compliance paperwork and support and mentoring to other colleagues.
I offer day to day support to the optoms, on queries of referral or patient entitlement for example. I'm not their direct line manager, that’s the Director of Professional Services who I also report to.
I'm also the CET lead for the company."
Domiciliary business models
"There are two approaches to domiciliary work, our business model is to do six to seven home visits to patients per day. The other way that some companies do it is they go into a care home and see several residents at once.
You should be aware that there's no such thing as a portable OCT at the moment, so we are a bit protected in terms of technical changes in domiciliary work. But we do need to keep up to date.
We are involved with some enhanced services. I sit on my LOC and I'd encourage people to get involved with theirs."
Training
"The company has a training induction programme and we support them. Super optoms are lone workers, so they need to know what they're doing and be confident.
Optoms are initially paired up with a national trainer. We do Safeguarding training and Mental Capacity Act training, and we also have dementia workshops at our conference. We do peer to peer observations and a trainer or assessor goes out with the optoms.
We also have backroom staff and about 150 head office support staff. These include our scheduling department to arrange our appointments, clinical support services to assist with urgent referrals and patient aftercare to an IT department to develop bespoke software and systems like our tablet-based record keeping system.
I'm a LOCSU trained facilitator, but don’t have any higher professional qualifications, though the company has supported colleagues undertaking the Professional Certificate in Glaucoma, for example."
Very rewarding work
"I enjoy travelling out to patients and getting time with them - our consultations last about an hour as they are likely to have more comorbidities.
I also feel my role keeps me clinically developed, I see more pathology than I might have done with younger high street patients who are coming in for contact lenses etc.
It's hard work physically, taking bags in and out of the car and setting up equipment and you have to be adaptable clinically and emotionally. Clinically, you must be confident about knowing your scope; emotionally, you're seeing an elderly population with a range of difficulties and sometimes they're isolated and lonely.
But this is also the attraction of the work, you're sometimes the only person that patient has seen in a few days and it’s very rewarding to work with them."
