Specsavers 2024 Award Winners

This year’s Doug Perkins Medal winners are Specsavers Port Lincoln in South Australia and Specsavers Blenheim in New Zealand.

Specsavers Head of Clinical Performance, Nick Gidas, who presented the awards, said the Doug Perkins Medal is awarded to one Australian and one New Zealand store each year that consistently upholds the highest standards of clinical excellence “in recognition of outstanding patient care and exceptional clinical performance”.

“To select the finalists, we analyse nationwide data collected through our clinical reporting, combining this information with patient feedback and health outcome data,” he said.

… it “helps us to reflect on the extraordinary impacts that optometrists have on the lives of the people they care for”.

Dame Mary Perkins Award

Dame Mary Perkins Award winners for Outstanding Patient Care were Sarshia Hua from Specsavers Toowong, QLD and Kevin Chen from Specsavers Mt Wellington, NZ.

These awards were judged by industry professionals including Professor Peter van Wijngaarden, on behalf of KeepSight; Dr Audrey Aumua, Chief Executive Officer of The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand; Dr Sonya Bennett, on behalf of Glaucoma New Zealand; and Ms Carly Iles, CEO of Vision 2020 Australia.

Commenting on the Dame Mary Perkins Award, Prof van Wijngaarden said it “helps us to reflect on the extraordinary impacts that optometrists have on the lives of the people they care for”.

Graduate and Early Career Optometry Program Winners

The 2024 winners of the Graduate and Early Career Optometry (ECO) Excellence Awards were also announced at SCC.

These awards recognise optometrists who have excelled in both the Graduate Program and the Early Career Optometry (ECO) Program.

Award winners were:

• Sam Wang, Specsavers Rotorua, NZ (Graduate Optometry Excellence Award), and
• Elle Carson, Specsavers Ipswich, QLD (Early Career Optometry Excellence Award).