OutsideClinic delivers pop-up in partnership with Vision Care for Homeless People

OutsideClinic recently partnered with Vision Care for Homeless People (VCHP) to deliver a pop-up clinic delivering eye care to homeless people at Swindon Night Shelter, The Haven (6 December).

During the one-day pop-up, 11 homeless people visited the clinic to receive free eye care. For most of those seen, it was their first eye test, the OutsideClinic shared, adding that two patients were referred to a GP or secondary care.

Based in Swindon, OutsideClinic has partnered with VCHP, a charity providing free eye care and spectacles to homeless people, several times in recent years, with OutsideClinic optometrists working closely with the charity’s team, as well as providing high-tech portable testing equipment.

Lauren Kearney, a dispensing optician, and clinical and patient contact advisor with OutsideClinic, who supported at the pop-up clinic by taking patient details and completing dispenses, said: “I met a mixture of lovely people, all with very different backgrounds and people who have fallen on difficult times.

The work VCHP does is so important it cannot be put into words. It was a fulfilling experience. I wanted to give back to my community and utilise my skills, which was exactly what I wanted to do. I hope to work with VCHP again and help those most in need.”

Lynda Oliver, head of wellbeing and external relationships at OutsideClinic, added: “It’s fantastic how much the charity has grown and how far it’s spread. It has a great team of passionate professionals carrying out much-needed optical services for those most in need of our towns and cities. We are so pleased to have been of some small help to them over the years and look forward to supporting them for many years to come.”

VCHP currently has seven clinics in cities across the UK.