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Finding an ophthalmology appointment quickly can take quite a long time depending on where you live. To overcome the lack of ophthalmologists in medical deserts, the famous optician Afflelou launched a teleconsultation service a few months ago. It announces today its generalization to about thirty brands of the brand.
It was eight months ago. The Afflelou group announced the establishment of a teleconsultation service in five points of sale. This service, offered in conjunction with Medadom, the online telemedicine specialist, was therefore tested during this period.
After this test phase, during which more than 2,000 teleconsultations were carried out, the group’s general manager, Anthony Afflelou, welcomed the results last September during a press conference: “We have had nothing but good feedback, both from customers and franchisees“.
About twenty new points of sale concerned
After this first success, it is only natural that the group announces to extend this system to 25 points of sale of the brand, which should also offer this service from 2022.
But Afflelou’s goals are much higher, with the brand having 200 stores located in areas of medical deserts. So many stores that could therefore potentially offer the service.
Via a teleconsultation booth
But how does it work in practice? The Afflelou stores in question have a dedicated cabin in the store.
They are equipped with an auto-refractometer, a device for remotely measuring the optical characteristics of the eye and detecting myopia, astigmatism or hyperopia. The patient is free to choose his doctor, with whom he can make an appointment via the telemedicine platform. “This service does not imply any obligation to purchase thereafter” also underlines the optician in his press release, to avoid any accusation of commercial incitement.
A questionable practice
When asked, Professor Brézin, ophthalmologist at Cochin Hospital in Paris and member of the Doctissimo expert committee, asks himself various questions. “In principle, it’s a good thing, various doctors have also implemented similar protocols, very supervised, for teleconsultations carried out in conjunction with orthoptists. There, I wonder: how an overwhelmed ophthalmologist would have Is there time to see a patient in teleconsultation? Are the examinations carried out by the optician-lunetier, whose skills do not come from a medical course? My concern is that the examinations are not correctly carried out or that other pathologies, such as AMD or other eye diseases are correctly detected. And that ultimately, this translates into a loss of opportunity for the patient” worries the doctor.
Maintain the same quality of care
A poll conducted this month by Harris for Afflelou reveals that “76% of respondents have already encountered difficulties in making an appointment quickly with an ophthalmologist”. This figure varies by region: it rises to 86% in rural areas, reaches 81% in small and medium-sized towns and drops to 59% in the Paris region. “These difficulties are real” nods the specialist, “but it should not be that, due to a lack of practitioners, the quality of care is not there for these patients” he concludes.