“I love seeing patients at home”

Stephanie Lipsey-Liu is co-owner at independent practice, Charles Lea Opticians Ltd, in Nottingham, and also runs her own domiciliary company. Here she walks OT through her day as a domiciliary optometrist, from morning Weetabix to the evening ballet run.

7am:

I wake up and make myself breakfast while the husband and child sleep in. I always have four Weetabix with semi-skimmed milk, and have done ever since I was a teenager. I have two dogs, so I walk the one that doesn’t have agoraphobia to the local park and attempt to tire her out for 45 minutes.

8am:

I feed both dogs, and get myself and my daughter dressed for work and school.

8:30am:

I pick up my iPad (with test chart on) and laptop (assuming I remembered to charge them the night before), an apple, some water, and whatever snacks might make-up lunch that day. I then get daughter into the car and off to school.

9am:

I arrive at the first domiciliary visit, haul the massive case of equipment out of the boot, and wait for my patient’s husband, wife, daughter or son to offer to carry it. They always offer, and I never let them.

I set up the iPad with the chart on, unpack my retinoscope, ophthalmoscope and iCare tonometer, and start the test. I use Xeyex software for the eye test as it’s cloud-based, well laid out, and super easy to use.

We book around four or five eye test appointments and a delivery or two in a day. My business partner and I started our domiciliary company in order to provide thorough eye tests and affordable glasses with no sales targets. We allow an hour for each patient for their eye test and dispense (if needed).

10:30am:

I arrive at my second visit. We travel up to 45 minutes, but most visits are within half an hour of each other. I love seeing patients at home, partly because I’m nosy and I love seeing other people’s houses, but mainly because they’re always so grateful that we have come out to them. We can often make a big improvement to their vision.

I love seeing patients at home, partly because I’m nosy and I love seeing other people’s houses, but mainly because they’re always so grateful that we have come out to them

11:45am:

I deliver and fit glasses for a patient from the week before. We never take payment upfront, as many elderly people can start to worry if they pay someone they don’t know for something they haven’t yet received. Many of our home visit patients haven’t had new glasses for a long time, so are often super grateful to be getting a well-fitting pair that they can see with.

Midday:

On to the next eye test. We often see patients with learning disabilities who live in the community with full time care. These patients can be challenging, as they don’t always like people coming as close as optometrists have to. Doing domiciliary work has improved my retinoscopy skills no end, so even a few quick sweeps of the ret can give me a very good idea of their prescription.

We never take payment upfront, as many elderly people can start to worry if they pay someone they don’t know for something they haven’t yet received

1:15pm:

I eat my apple/bread sticks/whatever was in the cupboard that morning on my way to my next appointment. We see a lot of patients with low vision. Unfortunately, in Nottingham you have to go to hospital or a local optometrist for a low vision assessment. We do them for free as part of the eye test if they need one, with the option to purchase magnifying glasses from us or be referred for NHS ones.

3pm:

I head to school to collect my daughter and her friend. We head home and the kids entertain themselves (while eating snacks) while I put any spectacle orders in. We have all of our frames and lenses from Dunelm Optical, so I order complete jobs over the phone – I don’t like doing it online. They rarely take longer than a week, and they usually arrive within a few days. The ladies there are so, so friendly and helpful.

4:50pm:

It’s time to walk the girls to ballet, where my daughter’s friend’s mum meets us and I skip home child-free. She takes the girls to hers after dance and gives them dinner, before returning my daughter around 7pm. This gives my husband and I time to chill for a bit, cook together or go out for dinner.

7pm:

My daughter arrives home for a quick bath, stories, and bed. In the evening I’ll be doing social media posts for the practice and my books (We Love Our Glasses is out now) whilst watching Netflix or Disney+.

10–11pm:

Bedtime. I love my bed, and would class sleeping as a hobby if I could. I still feel sorry for myself that my daughter didn’t sleep through the night for the first five years of her life.