“People are asking if they can come in after pay day”

To mark Talk Money Week, OT has launched the My money diary series, speaking with optometrists in a range of roles about their approach to budgeting and gathering insight on how optometry as a profession is valued.  

Here a London optometrist on budgeting tips, the limit General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) places on salaries and how cost of living pressures are affecting patients.

“When I was in my pre-registration year, my salary was around £15,000. That jumped to around £30,000 in my first newly qualified role, then it increased more gradually over the years. Within my hospital role, under the new Agenda for change pay rates we have had a slight uplift, which will be backdated to April.

“When I was newly qualified, I was so excited to have an income that I spent it on clothes and different things. Now I probably spend my pay more on experiences – like eating out or spending time with friends. I probably budget more now than I did when I was newly qualified. Whenever I am paid, I will put my earnings into different accounts – I have an account for savings, a joint account for the mortgage and an account for personal spending. I don’t monitor it super closely during the month, but with the different accounts I know what my budget is.

“I prioritise spending on time with friends because it brings me more happiness and satisfaction than spending the same amount of money on clothes. Because everyone is so busy now, it can be challenging to find time to get a date in the diary – so you want to make it special when you are together. We like to do something that is fun and engaging, and that we will chat about in future years. Then you have the memories, not a material thing.

“I think across the healthcare sector, people are undervalued for the roles that they have. Optometrists play a larger role within healthcare than perhaps other healthcare professionals think we do. GOS fees reflect that lack of recognition. Because of that, there is a limit to how much practices can pay their optometrists because there is a limit on what they are paid for our services. There is a cycle there that needs to be broken.

“More practices are moving away from GOS and providing private care, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the answer because it limits the care that is available to people. I am hoping that reimbursement for GOS and enhanced services will better supplement practice income in the future, so that practices are not so reliant on selling glasses.

It’s important to talk about money because it may well be that sharing information could help someone else

“It is generally accepted that if you are an optometrist in the hospital, your pay will be less than what you could get in the community. But there are advantages to working in hospital – there aren’t the same commercial pressures that you might have on the High Street and you can sometimes be paid for overtime, which you don’t get in the community. There are usually better pensions for NHS workers.

“Growing up, the only way I could get something I wanted outside of Christmas and my birthday was to work for it. My parents would pay me for small tasks, like washing the car, and I had a Saturday job. It was frustrating as a teenager but, in hindsight, it has helped me to develop the attitude that if you really want something, you are prepared to wait for it. If you don’t want it in a month’s time, then it was probably just a fad. Like many households, if we were cold, we just put on more layers. Although it wasn’t nice at the time, it probably is a more cost-effective way of doing things and better for the planet as well.

“If I could give some advice to my younger self, it would be to put my money into separate pots sooner. That way you know what money you can spend and what needs to be saved for another purpose. I would also say to regularly check which saving accounts have the best interest rates, because that can have a huge impact. If you swap every year or two, you can save so much more. I find websites like Money Super Market helpful.

“With the cost of living pressures, I’ve noticed more people choosing not to update their glasses when there has been a small to moderate change in prescription. There are also parents who come in and they will update their child’s glasses but not their own. They sacrifice their own eye care for their child. When I book people in for appointments, people are asking if they can come in after pay day. That’s a pattern I have never seen before.

“I think it’s important to talk about money because it may well be that sharing information could help someone else. We can all pick up tips from each other. It has only been after we talked with our friends about overpaying the mortgage and they showed us some calculations that we realised the difference it can make. We were shocked by the impact it can have.”