Optometrist MATTHEW DING made a decision for his family to move away from Sydney to eventually end up in the Queensland town of Warwick. He discusses everything he loves about regional life and working for George & Matilda Eyecare, including some curious cases.
Mr Matthew Ding had spent a large chunk of his optometry career in metropolitan Sydney, but as he settled into family life, it was soon apparent the trappings of city life had lost their appeal. The professional demands were also great: the store needed to be open seven days a week with late night shopping – much of which he covered.
After almost 11 years as a franchisee for a major corporate in Blacktown, in Sydney’s west, a life in regional Australia awaited. Locuming was the best way to get a flavour of where he could one day establish his family and put his son in school.
Eventually, he landed on Warwick, a southeast Queensland town 130km inland from Brisbane. Today, Ding is the principal optometrist at George & Matilda (G&M) Eyecare for My Optical and is ticking the right boxes at this stage of his life: drawing a healthy salary, performing meaningful, autonomous work, lower cost of living, and a slower pace of life.
“The priority was entirely about family. My son was about to start school and I needed a location that would suit his development. I couldn’t continue to locum and still be present for him and I wanted to move more rural so as to have more time to spend with him rather than be at work all the time,” he says.
“I simply have far more time for family. In Sydney I was away from family more than I really wanted to be. In Warwick, we are only open Monday to Friday and every second Saturday so my time at home has increased significantly. There is also no travel time as I live only a few blocks from work.”
Ultimately, Ding says moving regional pays off financially for optometrists due to less competition and more demand. “And the cost of living can be much lower, for example I bought my house for $480,000 – it’s a quarter acre block and two storey house.”
The house also has a modern kitchen. For a “foodie” like Ding living in an agricultural town, it’s the ideal place to cook some of the freshest locally-sourced produce. “My wife and I got invited to a farm just recently and the owner asked if I wanted a lamb that he had killed and dressed that morning. He didn’t want anything for it, he just wanted me to take it off his hands,” he says.
While moving regionally can be both financially and professionally rewarding, Ding is realistic about what’s required to make the shift successful. His own experience in Warwick speaks to the importance of being confident in one’s own clinical ability. As the sole optometrist at the practice, responsibility rests on his shoulders, and the lack of public ophthalmology makes matters more challenging.
Examples of this include patients who are at a high risk of vision loss, including closed-angle glaucoma attacks. Seeing a private specialist in Toowoomba can sometimes be beyond their financial means. So when the presentation is beyond his scope, his only option is to try convince them to be transported to the public Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.
Ding might have struggled to resolve tricky cases like these with quick thinking early in his career. They also contrast to his experience in Sydney where patients could easily access public ophthalmology care 24/7. For Warwick residents, Princess Alexandra Hospital is two hours away by car.
“In Sydney I was always able to put people on a train off to the Sydney Eye Hospital in an emergency. In rural Queensland there is far less of that kind of support and if the patient doesn’t have funds to cover private ophthalmology, then for most conditions the nearest ophthalmology is in Brisbane which may not be possible for all people,” he says.
With this in mind, Ding has made it a priority to work closely with ophthalmologists in Toowoomba. These include Dr Andrew McAllister who has petitioned Queensland Parliament calling for public ophthalmology funding for the region.
“I’ve got their mobile phone numbers, so if there’s ever an emergency, I can call them and describe the problem, show them the scans and ask the best approach,” he says.
“Only recently I had a man who came in with major inflammation to his eye, with corneal swelling, fixed dilated pupil and high IOP. Looking at it, you may have thought closed-angle glaucoma. Strangely, the angles were open, but then his pressure was 50mmHg, so I was able to call an ophthalmologist (Dr Michael Statham) who diagnosed uveitis probably from a viral infection and he recommended what to do, which ultimately saved the patient financially too.”
Focusing on the eye health the town needs
Over his 20-plus-year career, Ding has almost done it all. Whether it be Indigenous eyecare work through the Brien Holden Vision Institute, a short stint as an independent owner, a corporate franchisee for Luxottica, or locuming for Specsavers, he has enough experience to know what’s required for job satisfaction.
So, when he says he is deeply satisfied working regionally in a G&M practice, it’s a statement to be believed.
He enjoys all the benefits of being a G&M optometrist where the head office takes care of business functions like administration, HR, payroll and marketing, while the optometrist has clinical independence to care for patients in their own way.
“While I can’t speak to the entire network, G&M has been very hands off for me professionally,” he says.
“I have been allowed to focus on the eye health that the town needs. I have also been well supported in terms of the equipment in the store – they sourced me a used autorefractor from within the network – and professional development both with paid conference leave as well as online meetings to converse with colleagues.”
As one of three optometry practices in Warwick, Ding says G&M Eyecare for My Optical focuses on quality solutions for the population while also doing a significant amount of government low-income work. The practice stands out by providing quality optometric products and working alongside Toowoomba’s ophthalmologists.
“We are not always the cheapest, but we are happy with the quality of care that we are able to provide,” Ding says.
“In terms of the product line, G&M tends to seek high quality product. So, the frames are great, and we use ZEISS lenses exclusively, which is great lens technology going back more than 100 years. It means I’m not chasing to fix problems because of cheap product, which is never a good use of anyone’s time.”
Looking ahead, Warwick will remain home for Ding and his family, while he expects G&M to remain his professional home for the long-term.
“My son’s in year one at school. I have no intention of leaving this practice before he starts high school, and even if he does go to secondary schooling in Toowoomba and we move there, I’m close enough that it’s only a 50-minute drive to work,” he says.
“People in Warwick think that’s a long drive, but that was my daily commute in Sydney to drive from Five Dock to Blacktown – and that is against the traffic on a direct freeway.”
Perks of a regional career
With around 50% of G&M’s practices regionally located, chief operating officer Mr Matt Bradford says challenges for optometry networks today include recruiting an optically trained team, providing training and ongoing support with peer connectivity, and other readily available allied health services for patient care.
There are several benefits of a regional optometry career in Australia, however, as Ding’s experience attests to.
“Optometrists get exposed to a broader scope-of-practice, including more pathology, so they’re able to experience far more co-management with ophthalmology than they would in the city,” Bradford says.
“Practising regionally also attracts a higher salary and lower cost of living, meaning you have much more in your pocket at the end of the day.”
In terms of the attributes that make G&M a worthwhile career move for optometrists looking to work in regional Australia, Bradford says clinical independence sits at the top of this list.
“They would also have ongoing support through our professional services team, the opportunity to be a trusted healthcare professional and leader in the community and partnership opportunities to share in the fruits of their labour,” he says.
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