Some of you may have heard the exciting news that we are having a huge store make over, some of you may not. With this in mind I thought a blog about it would be beneficial.
We are extremely lucky in our practice. Our main priority in Penarth eye centre has always been patient care. We strive continuously to keep an exceptional level and try to accommodate as much as possible. With this, we have become busier and busier as the years have gone by. We love being a reputable establishment and we are so humbled that we have so many patients to look after.
Over the last few years workload has increased for both the admin staff and the optometrists. Guidelines within how examinations are carried out, how we must process referrals and emergencies etc have changed and with that examinations can sometimes take longer, or we must allocate more time.
We also introduced the Optical coherence tomography (OCT) machine into our practice to offer an even more extensive examination to our patients.
With all of this in mind, after much consideration, Rebecca has decided to go with an incredible re-structure of our practice.
I wish I could show you the blueprints but that would spoil the surprise, so I will just have to explain.
Second testing room – We are having walls knocked down and rebuilt to accommodate a second testing room. This is something that we are so desperate for. Having a second testing room means that we will be able to have two clinics running which in turn can accommodate more appointments, especially for on the day emergencies or walk-ins.
Dispensing area – in our current set-up we have a little table for dispensing, but our new dispensing area will be made up of two dispensing desks and will be portioned off so will be more private for patient confidentiality and comfort.
Desk – we are having the most beautiful bespoke desk made that is going to be positioned differently and be so lovely and organised which will allow us to be more efficient.
Booking – we will be having a new appointments system put into place. We are all being trained into how to use this computer appointment system to make sure we can run it efficiently.
Everything is being redecorated to make it lovely and clean and fresh.
The biggest downfall to this is that we must close for three weeks for all the work to be carried out. We understand this is a bit frustrating but there is a lot of work to be done to make the most out of our premises. During the re-fit time the staff will be undertaking different training days, making sure we know the most up-to-date information in all aspects, so we can continue with the highest level of care we possibly can.
A few things we are asking for from our patients are as follows
Patience- As we already said, the closing time is frustrating, but it is necessary.
Contact lenses – We are notifying every contact lenses patient to see if you would like to order some just to be on the safe side and are bringing auto-shipment forward for our standing order patients but please contact us by Monday 5th November to order to give plenty of time for delivery and collection.
Glasses – If you are ordering glasses after an appointment please be aware that after a certain date we cannot guarantee they will be in store before we close. We are currently trying to think of a way to alleviate this problem but as we have no base or telephone lines you may have to wait until we re-open.
Appointments – we have limited availability in the next few weeks so if you would like an eye test please call us on 02920712053 as soon as possible to book in. If you aren’t having any problems and feel like a few more weeks of waiting isn’t going to hinder you then please book after we re-open, so we can accommodate slightly more urgent patients.
Whilst we are closed we obviously cannot help emergency appointments for any eye health problems. In Penarth there is Osmond Drakes, Specsavers and Arbuthnot’s who can possibly accommodate an emergency. We understand that as a current patient you would prefer to see us but as it is not possible, and your eyes are so important please don’t hesitate in getting in touch with another WECS / EHEW qualified optician.
You can contact us via all social media outlets or by emailing (Info to follow) for any queries and we will endeavour to respond as quickly as possible. Please allow a maximum of 48 hours in respond time.
We are all very excited for you to see the new practice when we re-open on Monday 10th December. In the first few days there may be a few hiccups whilst we get to grips of everything, but we will be our usual helpful selves.
In the New Year we will be having a party to celebrate because we need something to hep cure those January blues, we will keep you posted with everything and anything.
Thank you so much to each and every one of you. We couldn’t progress without all our lovely patients and we appreciate you so much.
Here’s to a whole new chapter!
From All the Team at Penarth eye Centre.
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