"About Us" Ted Arbuthnot

Our practice was established in 1934 by Norman Alexander, a local optician who developed it into a busy one-man practice by his retirement in 1971.
The current owners who started arriving on the scene from 1975 onwards have now taken the practice to the top of the independent tree.

Our practice Philosophy has always been to invest in the delivery of excellent service to our patients/customers.

We invest heavily in
• Training
• Personnel
• Equipment
• Premises

This means that we have only the very best staff and most up to date equipment in our practice. All members of our staff, including and especially the bosses, go on regular training courses to hone their knowledge on contact lenses, eye disease recognition and management and many, many more of the specialised areas of optometry like low vision, therapeutics, binocular vision, lens technology etc.

The equipment we have is second to none.
• The most advanced Digital Retina Camera
• Slit lamp video Bio microscopy
• Humphrey computerised Visual Field Analyser
• Computerised Corneal Mapping Keratoscopy
• Computerised facial measurement

However our most important asset is our people

Ted Arbuthnot, Optometrist. Now one of the senior figures in UK optometry.
• Recently received the most prestigious award from the Association of Optometrist's for "The Advancement of Optometry".
• Has addressed numerous conferences and meetings on optometry.
• Instigated the Primary Eye Care Acute Referral Scheme in the Vale of Glamorgan, now run out over all Wales and set to be run out across the UK.
• Member of the British Contact Lens Association and has attended every one of their annual residential conferences for 20 years.
• Founder member of the British Orthokeratology Society.

James Davies - Optometrist
• Contact Lens specialist
• Qualified in PEARS / WECE scheme
• A local man with keen rugby intrests
• Experienced optometry student supervisor Attends continued education couses

Sharron Hopkins, Dispensing Optician, Contact Lens Practitioner
• Partner in the practice
• Just the best for helping with frame choice and lens choice
• Fully qualified contact lens fitter
• Senior frame buyer for the practice, traveling annually to Milan to buy our exclusive ranges
• Negotiates our deals with major lens suppliers like Nikon, Zeiss, Pentax, Indo, Essilor, etc.

Mandy Barnes, Optometrist
• Partner in the practice
• Qualified and trained with us here, then moved away with her husband, to return several years later with vast experience gained in major practices in England.
• Specially qualified in handling low vision patients
• Contact lens specialist
• Regular attendee at all sorts of refresher and educational courses

Rod Carter, Dispensing Optician
• Vastly experienced dispenser
• Encyclopaedic knowledge of lenses and frames
• Caring approach to patients and customers
• Red hot on Quality Control

Front of House Staff, Alison, Janet and Lesley
• The best team we have ever had
• Friendly, caring, helpful and knowledgeable

Technician, Sue
• Behind the scenes wizard of Quality Control
• Manage progress
• Our social secretary

Lauren Jones - Trainee Dispensing Optician
• Our latest member of staff
• Enjoys music/singing
• Will be an assett to the team
• Our fashion consultant!