Frances Jamieson: “Practice ownership represents freedom to me”

Around six years ago, I opened Black Isle Optician in a small village on the Black Isle peninsula in Scotland. We had initially been due to open in April 2020, but the pandemic changed that, and we ended up opening our doors in August that year. From day one, it was masks, visors, gloves, aprons, one person in and one person out. Patients waited in their cars until their appointment time, and phone calls were used to decide if someone genuinely needed to be seen. I still wear those scrubs today.

Prior to the practice opening, my original plan had been to hire contractors to complete the practice fit, but the pandemic changed that and suddenly there was no work and no certainty. Instead, I spent the first lockdown laying laminate flooring, painting walls, and doing as much as I could myself with the much-needed help of family. It wasn’t glamorous, but I think it the local community enjoyed watching us roll our sleeves up.

The main reason I always wanted to own my own practice was because of the freedom and control that it comes with. I wanted to control my own schedule, my week, my year, and ultimately the direction of my professional life.

It’s also very grounding to know that if things go wrong, responsibility sits with you. At times this can of course be daunting, but it also means that you can make decisions quickly and adapt when needed.

At one point, I was booked three to four months ahead, which is too long for patients to wait

Real realities

Running a practice in a small rural community brings its own unique realities too. Recruitment is difficult because there simply aren’t practitioners nearby. Equally, communities are very close-knit, and trust matters.

One of the challenges I have faced in practice ownership is growth. There was no existing practice in the area before we opened, with alternatives around 13 miles away. We are based rurally, and the demand was there almost immediately, as we believed it would be. At one point, I was booked three to four months ahead, which is too long for patients to wait, and stressful when you are the only practitioner handling everything.

Initially I was doing everything myself: eye examinations, dispensing, fittings, collections, ordering, administration. Eventually I persuaded a friend to help with locum days, and later another friend, who is a dispensing optician, joined the team. That support transformed the practice and made it possible for me to focus on clinical care again.

If you can own your premises, do. Better still, if it is possible, own them through a self-invested personal pension. It’s one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given

Team building

As a practice owner, I’ve learned that maintaining morale and flexibility within the team is incredibly important. We have free access to a community tennis court behind the practice, so we often spend lunch breaks outside hitting a ball around and getting some fresh air. Our team includes family members and close friends, and we try to make each other’s lives easier. If someone needs time off, the rest of us cover.

Community optometry in Scotland is moving toward delivering more enhanced services, from glaucoma care to potentially low vision services in the future. Increasingly, more care will be delivered in community practice settings, easing pressure on secondary care. Because of this, practice ownership has also encouraged me to keep developing clinically. I became an independent prescriber because it allows me to deal with urgent eye care much more efficiently for patients.

If I had one piece of advice for aspiring practice owners, it would be: if you can own your premises, do. Better still, if it is possible, own them through a self-invested personal pension. It’s one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given.

Ultimately, practice ownership represents freedom to me. It allows you to shape not only your own career, but also the care and environment you want to create for your patients and the community.