Eleven Australian and five New Zealand Specsavers stores have been named as finalists for the annual Doug Perkins Medal.
The award, which was introduced in 2018 and is named after the British Specsavers co-founder, is presented to one Australian and one Kiwi store each year in recognition of consistently high standards of clinical excellence and patient care.
The finalists were announced at Specsavers Clinical Conference (SCC) Online Series live event on 5 August.
The Australian stores include two from South Australia (Elizabeth and Hollywood), two from Western Australia (Success and Rockingham), three from Queensland (Loganholme, Ipswich, and Runaway Bay), three from New South Wales (Burwood, Nowra Stocklands, and Dubbo) and one from Victoria (Warrnambool).
New Zealand’s candidates include stores located in Massey, Riccarton Westfield, Timaru, Queenstown and Dunedin.
The winners will be announced at the SCC Online Series live event on 26 August.
Specsavers professional services manager Ms Naomi Barber said a nationwide analysis was conducted using data collected through the Specsavers Professional Benchmark Initiative (PBI) to determine the finalists.
“The PBI aggregates and tracks patient outcomes across Specsavers Australia and New Zealand’s store network,” Barber said.
“The information from the PBI was combined with data from Specsavers’ patient feedback platform, as well as health outcome data from the Oculo electronic referral system.”
She said the finalists have demonstrated leadership in delivering exceptional patient outcomes, a focus on education and training, and commitment to accessible eye health, among other criteria.
“The finalists represent the top 4% of all Specsavers stores across Australia and New Zealand, delivering consistently high standards of patient care across all key aspects of clinical practice,” Barber said.