Patient benefits

For OT’s February edition, we looked at the patient experience and how it could be enhanced to better meet people’s specific needs, as well as to build patient loyalty.

For independent practice owner, Peter Sunderland, when a patient presents at FRAMED Opticians, it must first be decided if that person is a patient or a customer.

For Mr Sunderland, people are patients when they enter the testing or contact lens consultation room, but when they leave those places they become a customer “because they are buying a product,” he explained.

However, this journey is interchangeable, and there is “very much a mixture of patient and consumer-focused experiences,” in his practices.

For optometrist Neil Retallic, the best way to create an experience that is truly patient centric is to remember that for a lot of people losing their sight is their biggest fear.

“If you put yourself in their shoes, and think that they have come to you because they are concerned about something, and you treat them as if they are a member of your family, you can’t go wrong,” he shared.  

For optometrist Ruth Cuthbert, it’s about “listening to what you patients say,” and spending time with them explaining their eye conditions and why a pair of spectacles may or may not be right for them.

Having recently undergone a rebrand of its practices, CEO of Leightons Opticians, Ryan Leighton, explained that the purpose of the investment was to “make our stores much more contemporary looking and much more welcoming.”

Focusing on the patient, he added that the group’s values were strongly focused on listening, emphasising, educating and delighting with their customers.

Watch OT’s video below to find out more.