More than meets the eye
Making a difference
It all began more than 35 years ago with the vision of two optometrists, Doug and Mary Perkins, who set out to make a difference to people’s lives by providing best value eyecare.
And their passion for optometry continues to shape the lives and experience today of the 3,500 optometrists who are developing their careers with us. Like Doug and Mary, they are passionate about caring for the health of their patients’ eyes, about making decisions that will transform the quality of their lives.
Join them and you can make a difference too.
Work with the latest technology
Particularly with optical coherence tomography (OCT) – hospital-grade equipment, in more than half our stores so far and in every store by 2020. Allowing you to identify and monitor eye conditions years earlier than by traditional methods alone and supported by significant investment in training and mentorship. Simply the right thing to do for your patients.
And it’s not just about OCT. Our store directors are committed to investing in the best quality diagnostic and test room equipment. Diagnostic data is networked to your personal screen so that your time in the consulting room can be dedicated to giving the best patient care and advice.
Expand your clinical practice
As an optometrist, you were educated to do so much more than refraction. With eye health clinics in every store and hundreds of enhanced optical schemes in place across the country, this is your opportunity to draw on your education and core competencies and make a difference. Your opportunity to join us on our journey to close the gap between optometry and ophthalmology – including, perhaps, working with our ophthalmology partner, Newmedica.
Whether you are newly-qualified or more experienced, we will support and encourage you to get accredited and involved in services for minor eye conditions (MECs), pre- and post-cataract, glaucoma referral refinement and monitoring and more. And to deliver the best care for people with low vision, dry eyes or occupational visual needs.
Being WOPEC trained is one of the pre-requisites of working here. Starting with cataract checks, then MECs, then OHT. I’ve also got three team members training to be independent prescribers and another three training for the Professional Certificate in Medical Retina.
Stuart Ingleby
Ophthalmic director, Blackburn
OCT technology produces such a detailed picture of the structures in the eye that it allows us to identify signs of diseases years earlier. Given that nearly half of all sight loss is preventable, the sooner we can detect these conditions, the sooner we can help manage them or refer people for treatment.
Masumi Jethwa
Optometrist director, Bath
Benefit from outstanding training and development
Make the most of our world-class expansive and engaging training and development programmes. Including, of course, post-graduate accreditation in MECs, glaucoma and cataracts.
Take part in lectures, peer discussions and workshops at the professional advancement conference (PAC), the largest one-day optical conference in Europe, or join one of our regional conferences, the MiniPACs. Post cases on our internal social network on Yammer and learn from the experience and opinions of thousands of optometrists across the UK and Ireland. Engage with the features, case studies and CET modules in our online professional journal, Profile. Contribute to regular in-store peer reviews. Use all these resources as stepping stones to higher qualifications, postgraduate study and professional leadership roles.
Our commitment to training and development is not just for our clinicians. We also make a significant investment in developing all store colleagues, meaning that they can offer better support to the clinical team and of course, to your patients.
Go above and beyond
So many career options are open to you when you join Specsavers. Nurture the next generation of optometrists as a pre-reg supervisor. Specialise in enhanced optical services. Become a WOPEC assessor. Facilitate learning and development in store as an ophthalmic lead professional. Volunteer for a charity. Work in a Newmedica specialist eye clinic. Or, begin the pathway to own your store as a joint venture partner – an opportunity unique to Specsavers. Do any or all of the above. The choice is yours.
Enjoy rewards and benefits that are right for you
The joint venture partnership at Specsavers is our greatest strength, with every store locally owned and led by its directors – usually an optometrist and a dispensing optician or retailer. For you, this means the store director is free to agree with you the reward and benefits package that is right for you and right for their business.