This May Mr Adrian Murphy celebrates 50 years of eyecare in Carmarthen. He arrived as a newly qualified optometrist on 1st May 1967 as an assistant to Mr Dewi Jones and then became a partner in 1971. In 1994 when Mr Dewi Jones retired Mr Murphy worked single handedly until more recently when he was joined by Dr Adrian Jones in 2006.
In the half century of practice, Mr Murphy has witnessed an incredible advancement in eye care and associated technology. The role of the optometrists has changed significantly in that time and is now more clinically based than ever with close liaison with local hospital eye units allowing direct referrals, advanced assessments to allow prioritisation and treatment in primary care for a significant number of patients. Mr Murphy has been at the fore front of these changes and was the first in Carmarthenshire to invest in retinal photography, computerised visual field testing as well as being one of the professions trailblazers in the early days of contact lens fitting and after care.
He is very proud of the clinical and ethical basis of the practice, this non-commercial philosophy was originally instituted by Mr Dewi Jones and continues to this day. Its success is reflected in the wide patient base not only in
Carmarthenshire but extending to Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire plus may patients that travel from as far a field as France and Italy. His greatest pleasure is seeing so many patient over the years from all walks of life especially the farming community. He has seen many people as young children through to adulthood and now sees their children and grandchildren.
Outside the consulting room he enjoys close links with family in Ireland and regularly travels over to help out on
the dairy farm near Kilkenny.
Recently the practice has been taken over by Dr Adrian Jones, but Mr Murphy continues to see patients on three
mornings a week, he also provides domiciliary services to patients who are now elderly or immobile and are unable
to attend the practice. The practice is now in the very safe hands of Dr Adrian Jones who has a special interest in glaucoma and is on the GOC specialist register as an independent prescriber which allows more patients to be diagnosed and treated at the practice.