Optical Centres in West Africa

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Optical Centres in West Africa
The Optical Centre Organisational Handbook
Trent Huon
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Todays Goals
Identify Stakeholders and their
importance/influence on the centre Identify
potential centre models and analyse pros and cons
in local context Understand where the model will
be in five years The Organisational
Handbook Summary
Understand the operation
Understand the community
Appropriate Training
Organisational Outline
3
Stakeholders
Staff
Sponsors
Defined Roles Support as required Career
path Regular income
Reports KPIs
Suppliers
Many or few? Expensive or cheap?
Community
BVI Organisations
Quality Affordability Fashion Full
service Accessible
OPTICAL CENTRE
Assessment Centre Understanding
Current Suppliers
General Eye Clinic
General Hospital
expensive or low quality
Reporting through administrator Integrated
unit
Quality Work Income generation Work with
sponsor No extra hassles
Government
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Todays Goals
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Four Potential Models
- Private Practice - NGO Sponsored

• - Private Practice
• Private Owned

• - Hospital Practice
• NGO Sponsored

• - Hospital Practice
• Govt. Sponsored

Community Ownership
?
?
Staff Ownership
?
Profit Motive
?
Career Advancement
?
?
Salary Advancement
?
?
Job Security
?
?
Ease of Monitoring
?
Independence
?
KPI Collection
?
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Todays Goals
Identify Stakeholders and their
importance/influence on the centre Identify
potential centre models and analyse pros and cons
in local context Understand where the model will
be in five years The Organisational
Handbook Summary
7
Five years down the track
How will it get there, and where will it go?
Minimum Considerations
Address Them
Know what is affordable market survey
Understand the community
Know what is required population survey???
Understand the community
Sustainability of Supply Channels
Understand the operation
Know the income required for sustainability
Understand the operation
Appropriate caliber, number, pay and training of
staff
Understand the operation
Appropriate Training
Repeatable quality of jobs and refractions
Reporting Structure
Organisational Outline
Organisational Processes
Organisational Outline
Monitoring Schedule
Organisational Outline
Referral systems in place
Organisational Outline
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How do we Address These Concerns
Understand the operation
Understand the community

• What does fashion mean?
• What does affordability mean?
• What does ownership mean?

• Staffing requirements
• Caliber
• Number
• Training
• Remuneration
• Responsibilities
• Service Level
• Stock Requirements
• Market Size
• Reporting requirements
• Operations
• Outreach
• Current providers

Appropriate Training

• Design or identify required training
• Optical Skills
• Administration Skills

Understand the operation
Understand the community
Appropriate Training
Organisational Outline
9
Todays Goals
Identify Stakeholders and their
importance/influence on the centre Identify
potential centre models and analyse pros and cons
in local context Understand where the model will
be in five years The Organisational
Handbook Summary
10

• The Optical Centre
• Organisational Handbook

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The Organisational Handbook.
The Handbook is broken up into 2 parts
Narrative Section
Outlines of Reporting Formats
Record Keeping
Outlines of the records to be kept by the
centres
Operational Guidelines
Outlines discussed with hospital accountants
and clinic staff
Storeroom Guidelines
Outreach
Staff and Job Descriptions
Administrative Requirements
Checklist for Monitoring
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The Organisational Handbook. Why?
Why do we need it?
Staff are trained in RE and lens fitting skills,
where do we train for organisation? How do staff
account for income and stock effectively? How do
sponsors/Govt. get reliable KPIs? How can we
effectively monitor if there are no ground rules
for the clinic?
Why is it effective
Long development time and developed with the end
user in mind Developed with input from optical
centre staff from a number of countries and
cadres Adaptable to fit into existing hospital or
other organisation structures Can be added to or
subtracted from as necessary
How Can it best be utilised?
A 2-3 day organisational training session as a
core part of all optically related training
programmes
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Todays Goals
Identify Stakeholders and their
importance/influence on the centre Identify
potential centre models and analyse pros and cons
in local context Understand where the model will
be in five years The Organisational
Handbook Summary
14
Summary
Understand your stakeholders
Stakeholders
Understand your Optical Centre model
Model
Understand your exit strategy
Exit
Provide an organisational framework
Organisation
Provide training in said framework
Independent Sustainable Centres
???????