The Dr Peter Frampton episode

In episode four of The OT Podcast, we seek to work out what makes a positive and productive place to work.

Speaking to OT on his birthday, our guest is Northumberland-based owner of Aaron Optometrists, Dr Peter Frampton. The IP optometrist and AOP member purchased the practice, which is now part of Hakim Group, in 1993. The move led to the Australian-native remaining in the UK following what was meant to be a short-term stop-off in the 1980s.

Reflecting on what he describes as an unplanned career into optometry, Dr Frampton’s route into healthcare started when he opened a newspaper looking for a job after completing a degree in environmental studies. In the paper was an advertisement seeking ambulance officers.

Working in the ambulance service by day, he went off to study physics and chemistry in night school, before enrolling at Queensland Institute of Technology to train as an industrial chemist. “I spent two weeks in chemistry and realised I that I was not a chemist… I went to the faculty next door and asked them to let me in. They did, and that was optometry.”

Over the last three decades, Frampton’s practice has evolved and expanded. And he is not afraid to admit that once, when expanding too quickly, he nearly went out of business. However, an ethos of recognising and investing in colleagues, and expanding their skillset as well as his has always been at the fore.

Frampton is proud that his newest member of clinical staff has been with the practice eight years. All four optometrists at the practice are IP-qualified and he has supported their advancement clinically throughout their careers at Aaron’s. While one of the practice’s IP optometrists has been with the business 27 years, starting as a trainee dispensing optician, another joined in 2011 as a pre-reg.

“We want continuity of care [for our patients],” Frampton shared, adding: “Something that I have been building for all the way along is to have a system where patients know they are going to see someone who has been there for a long time.”

Reflecting on what makes a positive working environment, Frampton told OT: “The real strength is believing in your people…My colleagues are my colleagues, not one of them is a staff member or employee.”

Play episode four: The Dr Peter Frampton episode