Clare Pearce says it was a surreal moment when she realised the description of the winner being read out at the Optician Awards 2022 could be her.
‘I started to think, “That could be me.” I looked at my business partner in shock. I was so pleased to be shortlisted and never thought I would actually win,’ she tells Optician.
The optometrist of the year celebrated with practice manager Francesca Blackmore and their respective husbands, as well as fellow Welsh colleagues who won on the night.
‘It was fun to share the evening with them as there’s a great camaraderie between us all and I know they were cheering me on,’ she says.
Pearce runs two Cardiff-based, independent practices with Blackmore, which they first opened in Pentwyn in 2012 before acquiring a second site from a retiring optometrist in Llanishen in 2021.
Pearce decided to enter the Optician Awards to showcase the work she had done in the last year in a non-clinical setting.
‘I’d love to be an inspiration to others to make similar choices to enhance their day-to-day work. I feel passionate about what I do, particularly with deaf awareness, so the opportunity to raise the profile of these issues was great.
‘I feel by winning, I’m showing that you don’t have to be the cleverest person or the top of the class to be excellent at what you do. We are all capable of making decisions in the way we work and the way we communicate with our patients that make huge differences to them and, therefore, the quality of care we can offer,’ she says.
Individual care
Communication is key for Pearce and awards judges noted her efforts to adapt sight tests to each individual, which includes learning British Sign Language (BSL), being d/Deaf aware and becoming a dementia friend.
‘My aim is that each patient feels listened to and cared for when they come and see me. This may be as simple as allowing a patient with autism to have a look around the room before their appointment so they know what to expect, but can be as far as learning and using a different language like BSL. I will always address the patient even if information needs to be gathered or verified by a carer,’ Pearce explains.
Pearce adds that all patients are different and it is important that steps are taken to understand each one of them to provide the best clinical care.
Recently, she has developed cards for patients living with dementia to help them maintain as much independence as possible.
‘The cards have a simple prompt on them to let them know what the outcome of the examination is. I developed them after frequently seeing that patients would come out of the examination and not remember what I had just said,’ Pearce explains.
Patient perceptions
Pearce also engages in promoting primary care locally and was involved in a campaign run by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to highlight the different primary care professions and point patients in the appropriate direction.
‘I was the optometrist in this campaign, which involved making a short video to explain what symptoms are best assessed by an optometrist and a cartoon was made of me to use on promotional material,’ she explains.
Another video where Pearce answers questions about eye health was recently made to change patient perceptions and inform them about what an optometrist does and how they can help.
Pearce is excited by eye care reform taking place in Wales and is looking forward to using her additional medical retina and low vision qualifications in the new framework. ‘There is increasing work within primary care clusters too, so it will be exciting to see how primary care practitioners can work together more in the future,’ she adds.
When asked why optometrists should enter the Optician Awards in 2023, Pearce explains eye care professionals have nothing to lose. ‘It’s a great exercise in looking at what you do, critiquing it and working out how you can improve,’ she says.