Telford opticians raises its glasses to celebrate team members

As graduate optometrists, the four colleagues, who all work at Specsavers in the Telford Shopping Centre and Baddeley Court, Newport, have completed their year of supervised training and will now take on their roles as full-time optometrists at the store. 

Avneet Bagri, Raman Cheema, Sulayman Aurangzeb and Rohan Thawait all balanced their studies and continual assessments alongside working full time to complete their year long pre-registration qualification following completion of their university degrees. In their new roles, they are all now making a significant impact in their local community, providing exceptional care. 

"One of the most enjoyable parts of my pre-registration experience was being given the opportunity to apply what I had learned during university in a real-world setting," comments Avneet. "My aim now is to keep up with the latest research and treatment and to help build up my clinical expertise through further qualifications."

"The most enjoyable part was interacting with different patients," says Raman. "I had the opportunity to see some complex and challenging cases too, which I was able to learn and develop from. My supervisors were also very supportive and have helped me develop my clinical skills."

All four were supported by experienced supervisors Wrayon Vassel, Jasdeep Dhillon and Vinay Najran who feel very passionate about mentoring those just starting out in their careers. Their training has been greatly enhanced by access to state-of-the-art technology and the guidance of experienced supervisors.

"Stepping into the role of a supervisor is truly a worthwhile journey, offering a unique opportunity to shape the future of optometry," comments Wrayon. "The whole Specsavers Telford team is extremely proud of their achievements."

Jasdeep found the role equally rewarding: "When they have that lightbulb moment and everything just clicks, you can totally see a shift in their behaviour and confidence."

"I especially enjoy helping them build their clinical and decision-making skills, while also nurturing their confidence in handling complex situations," concludes Vinay. 

While there were certainly challenges for the young optometrists to overcome during their training, it’s clear that they all put in a lot of work and are committed to providing the very best eye care to the community. All four will be looking to continually advance their clinical skills, with plans to pursue higher qualifications, including Medical Retina, Glaucoma and Independent Prescribing (IP), to help them stay at the forefront of optometry and offer an ever-increasing range of services to their community.

"I am now eager to refine my clinical skills," says Sulayman. "I want to explore special interests such as glaucoma or myopia management, and take on greater responsibilities, including mentoring pre-registration students, just like the senior optometrists at both stores."

"I would say I enjoyed the daily interaction with patients the most," concludes Rohan. "I also had the opportunity to build on the clinical skills I had learnt at university when examining patients and I plan to complete further certifications and accreditations to keep on learning new skills."