An optometry practice concentrates more high-value equipment into fewer square metres than almost any other small business. A single test room holds a slit lamp, a phoropter, a tonometer, and a chart system; the imaging room adds an OCT machine and a fundus camera worth more than everything else combined. Add trial lens sets, handheld instruments that wander between rooms, and a dispensing bench full of tools, and the question “what do we own, where is it, and when was it last serviced” deserves a better answer than a folder of invoices.
What you will learn
- Why practices lose track of expensive kit
- What to put on the register
- Service history and calibration belong on the asset
- Retiring devices that hold patient data
- Running the register without extra admin
- FAQ
Why practices lose track of expensive kit
Optometry has its own pattern of equipment drift, and it is quieter than a building site’s:
- Handheld instruments wander. Retinoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, and PD meters move between test rooms every day, and their chargers move separately. Nobody steals them; they just stop being where the next optometrist expects them.
- Trial lens sets get cannibalised. One missing -1.50 cylinder turns a complete set into a frustrating one, and lenses borrowed between sets are never borrowed back.
- Service records live in email. Engineer visits are arranged ad hoc, and the report ends up as a PDF in whoever’s inbox booked the visit. Two staff changes later, the slit lamp’s history is gone.
- Warranties expire silently. An OCT machine is one of the largest purchases a practice makes, yet when it faults, the first question - is this still under warranty - often takes a morning to answer.
- Branches and home visits split the kit. Portable autorefractors, handheld tonometers, and domiciliary trial kits leave the building, and locums move between sites with equipment in the boot.
What to put on the register
The same per-item logic used in medical clinics applies here: register anything with a serial number, a service requirement, or a real replacement cost. Frame stock stays out - it is retail merchandise with its own inventory system, not equipment.
| Asset class | Examples | What matters most |
|---|---|---|
| Imaging and diagnostics | OCT machine, fundus camera, visual field analyser | Serial, warranty end, service contract, engineer visits |
| Examination | Slit lamps, tonometers, chart systems | Calibration checks, bulb and part history |
| Refraction | Phoropter, autorefractor, trial lens sets | Room assignment, set completeness |
| Dispensing and lab | Focimeter, frame heater, glazing equipment | Owner, condition, purchase records |
| IT and front of house | Practice PCs, tablets, payment terminals | Serial, owner, data held, disposal route |
| Portable and domiciliary | Handheld tonometer, portable autorefractor, trial kit | Who has it checked out right now |
Assign every item to exactly one owner: a test room, the dispensing area, a branch, or a named person for anything portable. An instrument assigned to “Test room 2” can be missed within a day; an instrument assigned to nothing can be missing for a year.
Service history and calibration belong on the asset
Diagnostic equipment is only as trustworthy as its maintenance, and regulators, insurers, and your own clinical judgement all lean on the same question: when was this instrument last checked, and by whom. Keep the answer on the asset record - purchase date, supplier, warranty end, and a dated entry for every calibration check, engineer visit, and repair, with the report attached.
That record pays for itself twice. Day to day, it stops the “has anyone booked the tonometer calibration” conversation. Over years, it turns repair-or-replace from a guess into arithmetic: a slit lamp with three engineer visits in eighteen months makes its own case.
Tip: when the service engineer finishes, photograph the report and attach it to the asset record before they leave the car park. Service paperwork chased afterwards has a way of never arriving.
Retiring devices that hold patient data
OCT machines, fundus cameras, topographers, and the practice computers all store patient images and records on internal drives. That makes replacement a data event, not just a disposal. Before a device leaves the building, check what your data retention policy requires you to keep, export or archive it, and have the storage sanitised or destroyed - the structured version of this process is ITAD.
Record the outcome against the asset: what was retained, how the device was wiped or destroyed, and where it went. If a question about a scan from four years ago ever surfaces, the trail exists.
Running the register without extra admin
A practice does not need another system that demands attention; it needs one the team touches for ten seconds at a time. AMPthilly is built around that: each instrument gets a record with serial, supplier, purchase price, warranty end date, and attached documents and photos, plus a printable QR label. Anyone scans the label with a phone camera and the asset opens in the browser - no app to install - showing what it is, who holds it, and a button to report a fault with a photo. Tickets stay on the asset permanently, the domiciliary kit checks out to whoever takes it, and the audit history records every move. The free plan covers 3 users and 25 assets with no card required, which is enough to register the imaging room and test lanes before deciding anything - see pricing for the rest.
FAQ
What equipment should an optometry practice track? Slit lamps, phoropters, tonometers, OCT machines, fundus cameras, field analysers, trial lens sets, dispensing tools, and IT hardware. Frame stock is merchandise, not equipment.
How should service and calibration records be kept? On the asset record: purchase details, warranty end, and a dated entry with attachments for every calibration, engineer visit, and repair.
Do trial frames and lens sets need individual tracking? Track the set as one asset with one label, assigned to a room or optometrist. Individual lenses are too small to track per item.
What should happen when we replace an OCT machine? Check retention obligations, archive what you must keep, sanitise or destroy the storage, and record the disposal against the asset.
Can we track equipment across multiple branches? Yes - branches are locations, moves are recorded transfers, and portable kit is checked out to the person carrying it.
The takeaway
An optometry practice’s equipment problem is not theft; it is silence. Instruments drift between rooms, service reports drift into inboxes, and warranties drift past their end dates without anyone noticing. Put every serial-numbered item on a register with one owner, keep calibration and service history on the asset, and treat imaging devices as data-bearing when they retire. A register you can scan from a phone - AMPthilly’s free plan covers a practice’s core kit - makes the habit cheap enough to actually keep.