Back, L-R: Vision Australia’s Kristy Richards and Amelia Ukovic, Specsavers’ Dr Joseph Paul and Michael Angerame, Richard Wylie (Glaucoma Australia) and Amie Ryalls (Specsavers). Middle, L-R: Duchesne Markham (Specsavers), Rebecca Sobczak (MDFA), Dr Ben Ashby (Specsavers), Gillian Hopkins (Glaucoma Australia) and Pippa Martin (Glaucoma NZ). Front L-R: Dr Kathy Chapman (MDFA), Jon Kidd (Diabetes Australia) and Meera Chandra (MDFA)

Aiming to establish a trans-Tasman network to collaboratively devise new strategies to benefit patients and the eye health sector, Specsavers held its first cross-sector meeting for patient support bodies from Australia and New Zealand.

Participants from Glaucoma Australia, Glaucoma NZ, Vision Australia, Macular Disease Foundation Australia (MDFA) and Diabetes Australia came together to discuss their organisations, patient-support journeys and the successes and challenges they face in delivering day-to-day care, said Specsavers optometry director Dr Ben Ashby. “(Specsavers) holds direct relationships with these organisations, so it made sense for us to bring them all together. Our next steps are to hold a follow-up workshop before the end of 2023, where we will brainstorm and plot out exactly what we could do to enhance health outcomes for more patients.”

Dr Kathy Chapman, MDFA CEO said the day was a great opportunity to listen and understand more about the role each organisation performs. “I came away seeing lots of potential to better collaborate and complement each others’ work, especially because we were able to share similar challenges, such as how do we increase referrals so more people are aware of our valuable services.”

Richard Wylie, Glaucoma Australia CEO agreed that all organisations in the eye health sector want better health outcomes for their community. “Formalising a time to meet and explore opportunities to collaborate made perfect sense.”