NEWS 20 Essilor The Bolon Eyewear collection has been bolstered with 35 new lines and continued brand building and marketing campaigns starring brand ambassadors, Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway and American supermodel Hailey Baldwin. Designed for the UK independent market with an exclusive range of 78 sunwear and optical models, the optical collection features four new round models in multiple colours including a full titanium double bridge style, BJ1309. Bolon frames are designed in Italy and manufactured using high quality materials like Italian Mazzucchelli acetate, but are sold at an affordable above-mid-range price, so independents can offer premium, stylish sunglasses to more customers at a great price as well as the prescription eyewear, said Essilor. The two brand ambassadors are projecting the brand in point-of-sale materials, window visuals, frame display units, brochures and out-of-home advertising packages.
Hailey Baldwin models Bolon sunwear
21 Visualise Training NEG has announced its sponsorship of the latest round of ‘Seeing beyond the eyes’ CET workshops, being run across the country by Daniel Williams and the Visualise Training and Consultancy team. The free workshops form part of the organisation’s UK-wide mission to get low vision higher up the agenda by bringing the optical and sight loss sectors together for the benefit of patients embarking on their new journey. More than 900 professionals have already attended one of 17 workshops to date. Daniel said: “Our findings show a staggering 96 per cent of [delegates] will now refer to rehabilitation services, up from only nine per cent prior to the courses. Their increased awareness of services and products for people who are blind or partially sighted will greatly enhance the experience of patients and we are already hearing about new referrals.” The course is suitable for ophthalmologists, optometrists, dispensing and contact lens opticians, and students and is delivered by Jayshree Vasani, Peter Black and Daniel. A new referral resource pack can be downloaded from Daniel Williams with Visualise executive www.visualisetrainingand assistant, Gill Perry consultancy.com, and roadshows can be booked at www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/visualise-trainingand-consultancy-and-orbita-black-7994577028
AN INDEPENDENT VIEW No such thing as a free lunch The phrase, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’, is a reality for many businesses and ‘free’ offers will always have to be paid for in one way or another. In optics, it is either through the sale of eyewear or from the public purse by way of the GOS fee – or, of course, both. Whilst the AIO believes that offering ‘free eye tests’ demeans the profession of optometry, they are a reality that will not go away as the government will never legislate against the provision of ‘free’ anything. It is just not politically expedient. But what about the way that ‘free eye tests’ are paid for? Whilst it could be argued that cost transference to the sale of eyewear is acceptable business practice, the AIO maintains that paying for ‘free eye tests’ from the public purse is wholly unacceptable. As a result, the Association has written to the recently appointed health secretary, Matt Hancock, and made a proposal to him that would forestall the use of taxpayers’ money for the provision of a ‘free’ service. Our proposal is that the government stipulates that optical outlets cannot claim a fee for an eye examination or sight test from GOS public funds that exceeds any sight test fee advertised or offered to the public by that outlet or associated group. In the letter, the AIO has suggested the requisite wording changes to the rules that govern PCSE payments and has also proposed that for the sake of clarity GOS1 claim forms include the statement: “No claims can be made for GOS sight tests for sums greater than the practitioner’s lowest advertised sight test price”. Clearly, this does not stop optometrists offering ‘free eye tests’, just that the government and, ultimately, the taxpayer will not be paying for them. It also means that the minister does not have to outlaw the ‘free’ word.
Vision Now SEPTEMBER 2018
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