Man on a mission

Ophthalmologist Omar Durrani aims to recruit optometrists to his ophthamic surgery network, and in so doing improve the relationship between the professions. David Challinor (Optometry Today) reports.

Quietly surgeon Omar Durrani (pictured) says he expects optometrists could benefit by around £20,000 annually in future from joining Uplift, the optical surgery business – and believes that might be a conservative estimate.

The business, which aims to have 100 practices involved by the end of the year (OT News, July 1), is planning a series of roadshows in September to promote itself to optometrists.

Mr Durrani, one of the Birmingham-based company’s founders, hopes that the business, which specialises in cataract, laser and cosmetic eyelid and upper face surgery, will lead to improved relations between opthalmic surgeons and optometrists, especially in the era of the new NHS.

“Traditionally, we don’t get on, and it has been very ‘them and us’,” he says, “but that really has to change for the patient’s sake.”

Appointed as a consultant at Birmingham & Midland Eye Centre five years ago, he was given the lead to improve extending services to the community.

“This was in late 2006, when I was told that the Government wanted us to work closely with ‘the community’, which is effectively optoms and GPs.

“Those around me were wondering how to make contact, and I just said ‘it’s very simple, you have to make phone calls and you go and see these professionals’.

“What I found was, coming from a medical background, is that we [ophthalmologists] didn’t have much interaction with optometrists,” he said, “the only interaction you have is when they come on a placement to the university and you meet them once in your clinic.

“There are some very smart, well-educated and trained people out there,” he says. “Indeed, what I found was that we had some fantastic colleagues who were sending referrals that were absolutely amazing, and my view is that some doctors couldn’t produce that level of referral.”

Mr Durrani, who added advanced training in plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery, relating to eyelids and the face’s surrounding structures to his portfolio, was inspired to join the profession when, in his fourth-year at medical school in Pakistan, and following the work of an ophthalmic consultant, he witnessed the joy of a grandfather previously blinded by cataracts seeing his grandson for the first time. More training in the US followed before he arrived in Britain in 1998.

Now helping to front Uplift, which he hopes will become as recognisable a household brand name for eye care as BUPA is for private health, he believes the time has come for ophthalmic surgery.

“There is a tremendous pressure inside the NHS, with cataract surgery being rationed, and I have been told I cannot do several other types of ophthalmic surgery on the NHS, so there will be a shift to the private sector – we, as Uplift, can benefit from that, with optoms, or someone else will.”

Mr Durrani wants Uplift to be known for being a truly local service – he envisages patients will be 45 minutes from a surgery clinic – with a network of independent optometrists helping to refer.

Inspired by shared care programme for cataracts in the Birmingham area, he and other surgeons started to discuss what the patients wanted, and how poor the model for facial surgery and eyelid surgery, was for the patients.

Mr Durrani says Uplift will provide what he claims other do not, in terms of providing clinics nearer to patients, not just in major cities, and guaranteed continuity of care.

The decision to work with optometrists was taken in part because some are keen to expand the services they offer, says Mr Durrani, as they are often seen by the public as less intimidating than surgeons during consultations.

Patient choice is paramount, says Mr Durrani, with those knowing what they want being offered nearby surgeons and those not sure what they require offered a consultation.

“I understand sitting across from a surgeon can be intimidating, we can take that process out of it, and the patient is booked in to see one of our optometry partners. We train the optometrists to got through the basics of the discussions. If the optom thinks its suitable then we book them in.”

There are currently around two dozen optical practices on board, but he hopes to have at least 250 involved by 2013.

“One of the practices we have signed up have guesstimated that on average 10% of their patients are potentially suitable for services Uplift offers,” he claims.

A membership fee of £400 is required, whereby practitioners get a range of Uplift promotional materials, and Mr Durrani said the fee would be soon recoverable through its membership benefits.

Source: Optometry Today July 2011 http://www.optometry.co.uk/news-and-features/features/?article=2560

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