Private Ophthalmology Then, Now, and into the Future: An Interview with Sue Boyes

Don’t miss this insightful and surprising interview with Sue Boyes who has a unique perspective on where private ophthalmology has been and where it’s going.

We first met Sue Boyes while she was working as a Hospital Manager for Yorkshire Eye Hospital in Bradford. We helped her to deliver telephone and appointment sales training for the Yorkshire team. Since then, we’ve worked together at Optegra UK while carrying out similar work for their group of private eye hospitals up and down the country.

Sue started out in private healthcare as a Theatre Nurse with the Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital between May 1981 – May 1983. She then followed early interests in eye care to become a Theatre Sister of Ophthalmology at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust – acute between April 1983 – March 1988. Five years later, the Trust promoted Sue to Theatre Manager & Ophthalmology Directorate Manager at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She held that post for 14 years (April 1988 – June 2002).

Then, she answered Consultant Ophthalmologist Bruce Noble’s call to become the Hospital Manager for the Yorkshire Eye Hospital in Bradford, where she helped steer the business towards a £6.3 million turnover over eight years. In 2010, Optegra Eye Hospitals, a group of superior eye care facilities bought the Yorkshire Eye Hospital and rebranded it under their name. Sue stayed on as Hospital Director and helped grow the branch to a turnover of £7.6 million per annum (at June 2015) showing year on year growth of 8%.

After six years in her post, Sue left Optegra, and we thought it’d be a perfect time to chat with her to discuss her perspectives on the way private ophthalmology has evolved since she first became involved. We also discussed how private ophthalmology has changed since she first became involved. Sue shared some of the key traits of successful private ophthalmology companies that she’s observed. She also has insights into where ophthalmology clinics can struggle. The conversation evolved into power dynamics, where we discussed who has the most power in private ophthalmology today? Doctors? Insurers? Managers? Patients? We also talked about how that’s changed over the years, and where it might be going.

Finally, we discussed what Sue believes are the most important things that private ophthalmology companies need to get right today, and what she expects the future will bring to private ophthalmology.

Disclosure: Yorkshire Eye Hospital, Optegra, Nuffield, and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have all been LiveseySolar clients.