"I'm just happier in this role" - Ella's career story

"Home visits is refreshing, it’s fulfilling, and I wouldn’t go back.”

Meet Ella

Ella Helliwell lives in a quiet village in Cheshire with her husband and their cat, Rosie. After moving away for university, she’s now back in the area she grew up in- close to family and surrounded by countryside. When she’s not working, she’s planning her next trip (Thailand and Vietnam are next on the list), exploring European cities on long weekends, or enjoying time at home cooking, reading and sketching. During our chat, I described them as wholesome hobbies. 
“I did used to just dread going in. Being in a test room every day just wasn’t for me.”

It was a friend who first mentioned home visits, and the idea stuck. Ella reached out to Specsavers and arranged a shadow day with the Warrington Home Visits team.

She’s also an optometrist. And after several years working in store with Vision Express, she found herself craving something different.

A new direction

“I loved the shadow day, and I was like, yeah, that’s it- I’m going to move to Home Visits.”

At the time, Warrington’s home visits business was just getting started, so there wasn’t a role available. Ella took a position with another home visits provider, knowing that home visits was the direction she wanted to go. But Specsavers had already made an impression.

“When Lesley from the recruitment team got back in touch about a role that came up in October, I initially said I was happy where I was. But after chatting to Charlotte again, the Optom Director at Warrington, and being reminded about the team feel and the support, my head was turned.”

“It’s a proper team effort”

Ella joined the Specsavers Home Visits team in Warrington in January 2025. One of the first things she noticed was how different the setup felt. “At my previous role, you’re on your own all day. You do the eye test and the dispense all by yourself- it’s a lot.”

Now, she’s part of a team. There’s an optical assistant by her side, local schedulers who know the area, and business directors who are always on hand and happy to help.

“Everything runs so easily, so efficiently. The optical assistant is sat on the laptop while I do history and symptoms, they write it all up, I do my test, hand over, and head off to the next person.”

Local routes, better balance

Even working with a smaller, local patch has made a big difference to Ella’s day-to-day. “The furthest commute I do at the moment is about 40 minutes- and that’s not even every day.” 

She’s also dropped to four days a week and gets Saturday to Monday off, which works perfectly with her love of travel. “I’m earning more than I was before, and I’ve got more time for myself. It’s made a massive difference.”

“You get to know your colleagues”

Specsavers has been supporting optometrists for over 40 years. From its first store in 1984 to being ranked the 16th best place to work in the world, the business has always been built on care- for patients and for its people. Ella says that culture is something she felt from the start.

“Even before I officially started, Charlotte invited me to the Christmas event. We’ve done Easter events, meals out as a team- it’s been good.” Having a local office and colleagues nearby has helped her feel part of something bigger. “You get to know your colleagues, which you don’t get in other places. It makes a big difference.”

Growing with confidence

Since joining, Ella’s completed her post-cataract qualification and is thinking about further clinical development in medical retina. “Charlotte and Johnny have been great. We did a halfway probation review, and they asked if there was any further training I wanted. They’re easy to talk to.” 

She’s happy in her current role but knows there are opportunities ahead with Specsavers if she wants them. “If I wanted to do something else, the option is there. But I do feel happy in this role now.”

“Just do a shadow day”

For optometrists thinking about a change to home visits, Ella has one piece of advice: try a shadow day. “Home visits is quite a Marmite thing. A lot of optoms say, ‘I couldn’t think of anything worse.’ But if you’re thinking about it, just do a shadow day. See what you think.”