There’s never been a better time to reassess your patients’ needs, re-package, re-price and kick some goals.
O NSW/ACT
Andrew McKinnon
Did anyone attend one of the Big Bash League games over the summer? I haven’t been to a game but am an avid watcher – and I’ll certainly go this year.
What is surreal is that only seven-odd years ago, domestic cricket in Australia didn’t exist as a spectator sport. The Sheffield Shield competition – still in existence – routinely attracted well under 1,000 fans to an entire four-day game. International one-day games were suffering as well, with declining attendances and waning sponsorship interest.
This inappropriate use of professional skills leads to patients in urgent need of tertiary care having to wait longer than they should for resolution
Then some bright spark at Cricket Australia hit on an idea, no doubt inspired by the success of similar formats overseas. And what an idea it has been – in seven years, average crowds have more than doubled, with females making up 39 per cent of the viewing audience. Adelaide now regularly attracts in-ground crowds of 40,000+ and the MCG has hosted a game of over 80,000. Even the big AFL games love crowds of that size!
So what, you say – that’s cricket, I’m in optometry. The parallels are massive – and apply equally to owners, employees and associations like Optometry NSW/ACT.
We all have a great core product – cricket in their case, eye care and member support in ours. But is it meeting needs and expectations? Cricket fans no longer want to spend four days watching a game. I’ll hazard a guess your patients don’t want to feel like they are just a means to a spend. And our members certainly want to know we think about them more often than June each year.
The Big Bash is really a parable that any of us involved in customer service and patient care should relate to. They found out what their customers wanted, re-packaged their offering, priced it right and gave it to them – and they loved it!
Sound familiar? It should – it’s what each of us should be doing every day – or at least trying our best to achieve!
Footnote – it was great to hear friend and colleague Mark Cushway is on the road to recovery. Mark and Todd are simply terrific blokes who have gone out of their way to put optometry at the top of their ‘must support’ list since the first issue of mivision. Mark has found the going tough in recent times – great to see you’re on the mend mate.
O SA
Libby Boschen
This year Optometry SA’s primary focus will be on collaboration and communication. We will build on successes and relationships secured over the last 12–24 months within SA Health, pharmacy, GP networks, local ophthalmologists and of course, our interstate colleagues in Optometry Australia, our valued members and their teams.
Scarce ophthalmology expertise continues to be wasted on eye health presentations that optometrists are competent, qualified, authorised and available to resolve. This inappropriate use of professional skills leads to patients in urgent need of tertiary care having to wait longer than they should for resolution. Optometry SA has identified that GPs and pharmacists need to be updated on the skills of contemporary optometry so that they have the confidence to refer patients to the most appropriate eye care professional. Sometimes this will be to their local emergency department or ophthalmologist, but most often this should be to their local optometrist for treatment or accurate and timely referral to the most appropriate ophthalmologist. Optometry SA will work closely with key stakeholders to educate GPs and pharmacy teams accordingly.
Everyone benefits from being able to see to their full potential. But sometimes, buying much needed glasses may be cost prohibitive. More importantly, people may be too embarrassed to even get their eye health checked. Optometry SA has been working with the SA Government to deliver a new subsidised spectacle scheme for the most vulnerable in our community. While ‘Glasses SA’ is by no means perfect (the rebates provided to participating optometrists do not accurately reflect the real cost of doing business), it is a step in the right direction. During the year, we will work closely with our members to provide a comprehensive review of this initiative.
New in 2017 will be a database that enables Optometry SA to communicate with our members more effectively by ensuring our news items and advice are only distributed to relevant members. This will support a significantly more interactive communication channel between Optometry SA and our members. Together we will be kicking some serious goals for optometry and eye care here in SA in 2017.
