Meet the team – Fionnuala Kidd, Optical Lead

28 February 2022

 

A friendly observation from a dentist set Fionnuala on her career path.

LOCSU Optical Lead Fionnuala loved maths, science and talking to people so she always felt her career would be in health care and patient based. She recalls: “I knew I didn’t want to be a doctor, but then my dentist mentioned optometry was a good career as no one is afraid of optometrists like they are with the dentist!”

Originally from Belfast she went to Manchester for university, Leeds for her pre reg and then Newcastle for her first qualified job. “My pre reg year was a real mixed bag, I had four supervisors (through no fault of my own) and was based in a few stores” she says, “it gave me a really good insight into various different ways of working and the type of optometrist I wanted to become – I lived with my best friend who was a hospital optom pre reg and we both learned a lot from our different environments!”

Whilst studying optometry at university a personal experience solidified her desire to make a positive contribution to eye health “My grandad lost his sight with macular degeneration and glaucoma, and he struggled. It confirmed my desire to ensure everyone gets the best care possible and even then, I recognised that patients suffer when services aren’t joined up.”

Fionnuala worked for a multiple in her pre reg year and then an independent optician with a chain of practices across the NE. Now she’s with Boots in Crewe via a spell with Tesco. “I am genuinely lucky to (mostly) love my career path. Patients are interesting, and I enjoy problem solving and getting to know them. It is lovely when they’ve been struggling with something, and I fix it whether it is a clinical issue or a dispensing problem.”

It was while living in the NE that Fionnuala first got interested in the LOC: “There was a very engaged OL and I remember attending meetings for a new children’s service” she says, “I worked in quite a deprived area and saw it as a way that we could help support these children. I thought the OL job seemed brilliant and important for improving lives on a larger scale.” It was from here she became “really interested in the LOC” and she has this advice for anyone starting out as an optometrist and thinking of joining one: ”I didn’t really feel like it was a place I’d have anything to offer as a newly qualified optometrist. I know now that this wasn’t the case!”

Eight months pregnant and having undertaken some additional study at Cardiff it wasn’t until February 2020 she attended her first LOC meeting. “I joined Cheshire LOC in March 2021 and it’s been brilliant. There are some really experienced members who have been generous with their time and knowledge to support me.”

She lives in Cheshire with her husband and two young sons – who are 4 and almost 2. Fionnuala describes them as “brilliant fun” but admits there’s not much time for relaxing. When she does find time, the family enjoys cycle trips and travelling around the country to see “scattered family” from Northumberland to Bristol to Belfast.

Back at work Fionnuala describes mentoring two pre regs as “rewarding” and says they help keep her “on her toes”. She has respect for all those who’ve had to study recently “I think this current cohort have shown great resilience during a really hard training period with pandemic restrictions.”

As an optical lead Fionnuala is fulfilling her long held ambition to support the development of primary care services to benefit patients and the profession: “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from some people at very top of eyecare who really care about patients.”

Hard work and a selfless attitude has helped Fionnuala to get to where she is today so it’s perhaps no surprise that she cites an equally strong character as her inspiration: “I have always admired the politician, Mo Mowlam. She rose to prominence in a male dominated profession to become the first female Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. She was instrumental in the peace process and did all of this whilst living with terminal illness, putting the needs of others ahead of her own.”