OPTEGRA APPOINTS UK MANAGING DIRECTOR

OPTEGRA APPOINTS UK MANAGING DIRECTOR

Optegra announces further growth plans

Optegra Eye Health Care has announced the appointment of Mat Pickering as its UK Managing Director.

After five years within the business, from hospital director to regional director and general manager, Mat brings a wealth of expertise from Optegra, as well as prior experience in the ophthalmic industry and almost three decades working in healthcare.

2024 also sees additional management changes including an expansion of the UK leadership team with four new directors from both external and internal talent.

These changes will allow, at international group level, a dedicated team to focus on the overall growth strategy for the company and leading on the digital innovation and footprint expansion plans across UK and Europe. This team includes Dr Peter Byloos, CEO and acting as MD for the past five years, together with Jerry George, CFO, and Dr Ola Spencer, CTO.

“As the business expands and grows – last year was our strongest year to date –

Dr Byloos said: “As the business expands and grows – last year was our strongest year to date – we recognise the need to invest in leadership and support for our increasing employee team, and so we are splitting my position with a dedicated UK managing director.”

Regarding his new role, Mat Pickering says: “These are exciting times for Optegra as we treat more patients than ever before, while retaining our excellent clinical outcomes.

“My role is to continue implementing the strong growth strategy and business plan which we have in place.  This includes expanding the business in 2024 at a faster rate than ever before – with a two-pronged approach.

“We will launch a series of new dedicated NHS cataract clinics as we continue to provide timely access to treatment.   We are proud to see so many patients with a referral-to-treatment time of just 4-6 weeks, and our expansion into several new areas across England means we will help more people than ever before.

“It also means we welcome new talent into the business by creating new roles and opportunities for career growth, with is something I am passionate about.

“In tandem with this expansion, we will continue to improve the service which we offer to our private patients – from improving existing facilities and offering private treatments from new regions, to being one of the first UK providers to offer a brand-new treatment for Dry AMD Light Therapy.  This innovative new treatment will be launched as a pilot from our Manchester hospital in mid-January.

“Working alongside my excellent Optegra colleagues – both the leadership team and right across the business – 2024 holds a great opportunity for the company, with lots of exciting new initiatives ahead.”

Mat has spent over 25 years of his career in healthcare, across various sectors including optical, dental and natural health. He has worked at companies such as Vision Express, David Clulow, Tesco Opticians, The NutriCentre, Oasis Dental and BUPA prior to joining Optegra.

“To work in healthcare for over 25 years, there is an inherent passion for providing care for people. I think this is ingrained in people working this long in this sector.

“But alongside this, personally my passion is about building teams and developing people.  To create a strong team, then coach and mentor those individuals is really great.  As well as motivating them, this enables us to deliver better care, more efficiently.”

Optegra Eye Health Care is a specialist provider of ophthalmic services. Established in 2007, with its first hospital opening in 2008, it has completed over one million eye procedures from its 31 eye hospitals and over 60 locations across the UK, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

Optegra brings together leading-edge research, medical expertise and state-of-the-art surgical equipment.  It performs more than 140,000 treatments annually, both private and publicly funded. Its top ophthalmic surgeons are renowned for their areas of expertise, offering excellent clinical outcomes and great patient service.