Review of
Eyecare Glasgow –
A New Year Resolution?
By Simon Dunn
It feels like January 1st was a
long time ago now, but for me,
resolutions are a great way to
start the new year. Fresh, exciting,
different and often challenging
opportunities present but there is
no better way to prepare for the
year ahead! Like many people, I
often start with the best intentions
and some resolutions stick while
some fall by the wayside, most
often perhaps because (we
pretend) we can’t find the time! I’m
a busy guy! We are all busy though
aren’t we and it’s often very hard to
justify taking time out of our busy
practices to attend an ‘optional’
conference?
We are all aware of the huge
advantages of networking with other
practitioners and exposing ourselves
to ground breaking new products and
8 etCETera | April 2017
cutting edge technology. There is always
value in meeting new companies who
have different ways of doing things or
even just ‘refreshing’ some of the grey
matter on topics we haven’t thought
about for a while.
It can take a concerted effort to
challenge ourselves when there are so
many other demands on our time and
money, but this year I made the decision
to expand my horizons in clinical and
professional terms and got the year off
to a flying start by attending the Eyecare
Conference in Glasgow.
This was my first conference in a very
long time and I won’t lie that initially
the main attraction of ‘getting all my
CET for the year’ in one quick hit was
a significant factor in my attendance!
While it did tick that box very easily, I
was more than a little surprised by how
much more the conference delivered for
me than simply the CET points.
I am a Dispensing Optician who
qualified over 25 years ago and like
many have seen the industry change
enormously, not least my own role. When
I started, I worked in a small Dollond
and Aitchison practice with 4 other staff.
I am now a Specsavers Director with a
combined team of 140 across 3 practices
and an Audiology business. The majority
of my day is spent managing the business
rather than focussing on clinical issues
but this year I thought it would be good
to ask the question ‘What am I missing?
Surprisingly for me, quite a lot!
The whole event was very impressive
from start to finish. Org anising an event
of that size must be akin to herding
cats but the whole team were friendly,
approachable and experts at making
everyone feel welcome. For apprehensive
newcomers like myself it never felt like
I was interrupting an ‘old boys club’
reunion.