This year’s 100% Optical offered a wealth of education – from the practicalities of living through a fitness to practise case, to strategies to build mental health and resilience.
With the theme of mental health in mind, OT asked three eye care practitioners – Bruce Evans, Dr Pretty Basra, and Neil Retallic – about the importance of their presentations, and what practices can do to build the wellbeing of their practice teams for the long-term.
Bruce Evans: “It’s something that every practitioner needs to be prepared for”
Why was it important to explore the topic of fitness to practise cases at 100% Optical?
The risk of clinical legal cases against an optometrist has always been there, and it seems to be becoming a higher risk. I think it’s something that every practitioner needs to be prepared for. They need to think about it in the way that they practice – minimising the risk of a clinical legal case against them in the way they practice and the way they keep records. They need to be prepared for what to do as they proceed, and how to deal with that in a way that assists their case and assists their mental health as well.
What can practices do if they have a practitioner who is going through this? Is there anything they can do to support their wellbeing?
If a practice owner or head office has concerns about one of their clinical team, they need to address it early in a constructive way – as soon as they have small concerns. It’s better to not wait until it becomes a major concern. Talk to the practitioner, find out what support they can give them, and make them aware of the concern, because it may be unjustified. The practitioner may have a reasonable explanation. If they think a practitioner is potentially practicing in an unsafe way, they need to engage with them, provide support for them, and help turn them into a practitioner who is practising more safely.
Professor Bruce Evans on how to handle “the dreaded solicitor’s letter”
Receiving a solicitor’s letters and potential ftp cases were the focus of Professor Bruce Evans’ 100% Optical workshop
Dr Pretty Basra: “There is a person behind the profession”
Why was it important to explore the topics of the female advantage in optometry and mental fitness at 100% Optical?
For me, speaking at 100% Optical shows that there is an appetite for this subject. I haven’t seen anything else like this in any other educational optometric series.
I think the pressures of society are ever-increasing. You’ve got the social media burden. I don’t know the stats on this, but I would assume that women are on social media a lot more than men. Because of that, there’s a comparison that happens, where women compare to other women.
We are a profession, but there is a person behind the profession. So yes, I’m Pretty the optometrist, but I’m also Pretty the mum, and Pretty the friend, and Pretty the mentor. I’ve got so many different hats that I wear.
Coming to an event like this, we are celebrating how amazing optics is – but it’s only as amazing as the people behind it, so we need to nurture and develop those people. That’s why it’s such an important topic to talk about.
I was saying during my talk on mental fitness that at school, we were not trained to train our mind. Where was that lesson? We didn’t have that. Our mind can be our best mate, but it can also be our biggest enemy. Until you can have that confidence, have that resilience, and avoid burnout, you’re not going to be the best version of yourself at work. When you build that person, everything else follows.
‘The female advantage’ in optometry outlined by Dr Pretty Basra at 100% Optical
Dr Pretty Basra discussed leadership, culture and how to change mindset as a woman in optometry
What is a key action that practices can take support team’s wellbeing?
I would like to make the differentiation between wellbeing and what I do in terms of mental fitness, which are very different. I always quote myself on this: that I’m not candles and yoga. Sometimes, wellbeing is perceived as meditation, and there’s a place for that, but you’re not treating the cause. You’re just treating the symptoms of burnout, lack of confidence, or overwhelm.
If you look at mental fitness, you’re making people stronger in their minds, so that they may not even get to burnout. You may not get to overwhelm, because you’ve got internal strategies that will help prevent that from occurring.
The irony is, we’re in healthcare, so we want to do prevention better than we are. We’re trying to cure a problem, but we’re not focusing on preventing it.
When you’re doing your team training, or your monthly or weekly meetings, talk about what’s going on outside of work. I always make that quite clear, in my review meetings with my staff. An open questioning technique is key to extract what’s going on.
Sometimes, performance at work isn’t a work-related issue. It is to do with something at home that they are bringing into work. We can’t separate the person from the job, unfortunately, so it will compound.
Practices need to be mindful of how they communicate with their employees, and what toolkit they have, including mental fitness workshops.
Obviously, there’s not a step-by-step guide to fix everybody’s issues, and that’s not what this is about. But have sessions on how you can coach better, and get staff to a point where they don’t have to cope, because they are strong enough mentally to not let it affect them.
How to nurture your mental fitness as an optical practitioner
Dr Pretty Basra gave attendees insight into her journey from failing her A-levels to becoming an optometry practice owner
Neil Retallic: “Sometimes people just want to be listened to”
Why was it important to explore practical strategies for wellbeing at 100% Optical?
I think it’s important because we have to look after our people. If you look after your people, they will look after the patient care.
We have a duty to develop. One of the main reasons for 100% Optical is to provide networking opportunities and for people to share things in a safe space – we need to balance some of the clinical aspects with wellbeing as well.
A common thing I’ve heard is from people in management roles who feel that, if a colleague comes to them with a clinical question, they feel confident answering. But if a colleague has a [wellbeing issue], people can be unsure of how to have that emotional conversation. It isn’t something they are trained in.
People need to realise that, actually, sometimes people just want to be listened to. One of the big things I found [in researching practitioner wellbeing] was that people just wanted to be heard.
I think these sessions allow people the chance to think: what do I need? How often do I monitor my own mental health? How do I know if I’m going to have a good day? Can I avoid situations that would develop into stresses?
I think there is a bit of a halo effect. If people start talking about it, it starts to normalise it a bit more.
What do you think stress, particularly work-related stress, can mean for practitioner wellbeing?
A little bit of stress can actually be healthy, but if it becomes unhealthy it’s usually down to excessive pressures in demand and time – trying to do too much. I think that [goes back to] having autonomy over your work and structuring it in a way that is achievable and having the right support around you.
Practical strategies for wellbeing
Methods for managing stress were discussed in a session led by Neil Retallic, head of optometry development at Specsavers
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