11 August 2024
Simon Berry, optometrist and owner of Simon Berry Optometrists, talks OT through his day – from mornings with his son to evenings with sci-fi novels, TV thrillers and piano music.
6.30am
I try to wake up as late as possible, but it’s generally about half past six. The first thing I do is get a cup of coffee.
My son has a learning disability, so he has a very particular morning routine. He goes to a special needs school, so he gets a taxi there. I sort out his packed lunch, then we’ll be waiting for the taxi, hoping it comes on time so I can get to work okay.
8.30am
If the taxi is on time, I arrive at the practice at about half past eight. My first task of the day is turning on all the machines. We’ve got bubble walls in the testing room, so it’s turning the bubble walls on, and having a look at the clinic to see who is coming in. We specialise in people with learning disabilities, and there are often also a couple of Minor Eye Conditions Service (MECS) patients.
8.45am
We have a huddle with all staff at quarter to nine, to discuss what is coming up in that day. The idea is to talk through the pressure points, and see what we need to be aware of.
11am
We have a very busy practice, with a lot of technology – Optomap, OCT. My main tasks vary, depending on which patient is coming in.
We always keep one emergency slot free in every clinic. If a MECS patient phones, even if they are not our patient, we’re responsible for that person, so we need to get them in somewhere else. If it is our patient, we will try and squeeze them in at the end of the clinic or at lunchtime. Some MECS appointments don’t take as long as others, so sometimes it’s a quick telephone assessment just to see what’s needed.
12.30pm
I never used to have a lunchtime, but I find that now if I miss lunch, my head is not right by the end of the day.
My official lunchtime is half past 12 until half past one, and I’ll try to nip out of the practice for at least for 10 minutes, just to walk around and get a bit of fresh air. I live three miles away, so I might go home and let the dog out.
1.30pm
We have a good staff communication system, where the practice management software has a to-do list and records all messages. That’s always live, when I'm looking at it between patients and seeing what else I need to do. The end of lunchtime is a bit of a catch up with that.
5.30pm
On a good day, I leave the practice at half past five. On a bad day it’s 6.30pm or 7pm. It’s always busy. We have a recruitment problem in the north east. We have a long waiting list, and lots of things going on.
I like playing the piano, so I use that as stress relief. I used to be in a band, which is on Spotify now. The record we had out was 20-odd years ago. I’m 50 this year, and I’m trying to record a little piano thing to mark being 50.
To unwind in the evening, I read... sci fi novels
7.30pm
I've always got a couple of books on the go. We quite like watching half hour comedies in the evening, too. My wife likes thrillers – Luther, and that kind of thing.
We don’t really have a go-to mid-week dinner – as long as it’s something that’s relatively quick and easy to make, and to put away afterwards.
Comments (1)
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Anonymous2 days ago
If you do the right thing by the patients the business and revenue will flow.
High sales pressure sometimes implemented by non optical qualified retail staff may bring in temporary short term gains but poor future results.
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