Leightons host successful Clinical Conference

September saw Leightons Opticians and Hearing Care host their Autumn 2015 Clinical Conference in Guildford. Nick Rumney and Simon Barnard gave principal presentations at this successful event, which was additionally supported by presentations and workshops delivered by Peter Price-Taylor, CEO of Evolutio, Jason Higginbotham and Birmingham Optical, and Ian Pyzer of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.

The day effectively embedded Leightons’ key message; the company’s goal for all customers to receive the Ultimate Examination including OCT. During 2015, five branches have improved their facilities through refurbishments, and an additional 22 NIDEK Retina DuoScan OCTs have been installed.

The Conference started with a morning presentation from Nick Rumney, which focussed on the topic of differentiating Optometry with OCT in everyday Optometric practice. His thought-provoking address left delegates with the key message that OCT is for everyone, and further educated them in both the holistic benefits of OCT in particular, and also in conjunction with additional imaging techniques. Nick himself was pleased to speak to a “nice, responsive audience” who already had an understanding and appreciation of OCT.

The CEO of Evolutio, Peter Price-Taylor, continued the theme of enhanced clinical care with his presentation, which introduced delegates to eGuide. Leightons’ pilot to support remote clinical decision making via consultant ophthalmologists will ensure our optometrists are supported with an opinion, and empower them to check that changes are detected before they become eye health issues. Peter was delighted with the interest and feedback his presentation generated, commenting that “it was an excellent experience and great to see your team engaging. From the questions and feedback, I believe eGuide looks to be welcomed by your team, and I suspect will give an appreciated support framework for them to lean on.”

Simon Barnard concluded the morning’s presentations with his talk on Binocular Vision, Lids, Pupils, and enhancing care using the Volk Eye Check. This hand-held device includes impressive features which can also be used to streamline contact lens fitting. Simon and the team from IRISS Medical supported this presentation with a workshop in the afternoon, which provided delegates with a hands-on demonstration of the power of the Eye Check. Commenting on the positive delegate reaction to the demonstration, IRISS Medical presenters said they were “very interested to see how [the delegates] reacted and what they thought of the device when they tried it.”

In the afternoon, Leightons’ key message was supported and communicated through peer discussion and practical workshops with Jason Higginbotham, Clinical Advisor from Birmingham Optical. In these, Jason covered many aspects of OCT, but in particular, he demonstrated the often overlooked benefits of Anterior OCT Imaging; how to take, interpret and review these advanced clinical techniques.

In his afternoon presentation and workshop, Ian Pyzer of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care utilised the delegates’ newly acquired knowledge of the impact of decentred pupils on contact lenses, to ensure they understood and appreciated the benefits of the new 1 Day Acuvue Moist Multifocal contact lens.

Leightons are delighted the event attracted a number of external optometrists to the workshops and peer discussions. These focussed on the introduction of OCT and the NIDKE RS330 Retina DuoScan into everyday practice. There is great appreciation for the support of Birmingham Optical and Jason Higginbotham, who partnered with Leightons to deliver these.

Leightons’ Director of Professional Services, Andrew Bridges, commented that “the whole event fully supported our aim to ensure that our customers can live their lives to the full, and we were delighted by its success and the positive feedback we received from delegates and presenters alike.”