OutsideClinic, a leading provider of home eye care and hearing services, has announced plans to increase its headcount by 25 per cent over the next 12 months following a 50 per cent rise in demand for its services since the start of the year.
The Swindon-headquartered company currently has 300 staff operating across England, Scotland and Wales and plans to recruit a further 75 in a variety of roles, including 50 optometrists and 12 audiologists.
It’s launching its biggest ever recruitment campaign following a huge increase in demand for its services amongst the over 65’s market it primarily serves, with OutsideClinic on track to achieve a record £30m turnover this financial year.
Demand for the company’s at-home services, which typically see its clinicians conduct 100,000 eye and hearing tests in patients’ homes each year, has been fuelled by a growing over-65’s market, with the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in many older people preferring to book home visits rather than travel to their high street optician.
The company says, with projections forecasting that people aged 65 and over will account for almost a quarter of the UK population by 2038 and the home healthcare market expected to grow by 6.4 per cent from 2019 to 2026, it is priming itself for further growth. Its owners, Optimism Health Group, aim to turn OutsideClinic into a £100m turnover business over the next five years.
The biggest recruitment drive in the company’s history will see OutsideClinic grow its 75-strong team of optometrists by two-thirds (to 125) over the next year, improving both its reach and appointment capacity.
Hearing services are a rapidly growing area for the business too, and OutsideClinic is planning on recruiting a further 12 domiciliary audiologists to add to its 30-strong team operating across the UK. The company is also planning to grow its support teams too, in order to ensure the company is best placed to meet growing demand from patients for its services.
Commenting on the recent growth and recruitment drive, OutsideClinic’s managing director, Richard Gibson, said: “Demand for our industry-leading services has never been greater, with our talented team delivering clinically excellent eye care and hearing services in the homes of the hundreds of thousands of people who most need us.
“With the over-65 population set to grow significantly, we anticipate demand for our domiciliary services will increase substantially in the coming years and it’s vital we’re able to meet this demand while continuing to deliver the gold standard eye and hearing care that our patients have come to expect from us.
“The next 12 months will see us strengthen every area of our team, with a particular focus on growing our optometry team as part of our mission to ensure that excellent eye care is available to everyone from the comfort of their own home. We promise industry leading technology, unrivalled flexibility and the time and support needed to provide a service that makes a genuine difference to people’s lives. We’re excited about our next chapter.”
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