Practice Profile: Vet Eye Care

Even in the veterinary world of hard graft and stark reality, dreams are there to be grasped.

But they are not for the faint-hearted, and practice ownership is only for the very brave.

It may have been his stint in the Greek armed forces that equipped Ioannis Tzouganakis with the necessary fight and determination to build himself a veterinary empire, but, whatever the source, the 33-year-old is relishing the challenge.

Launching Vet Eye Care in September 2023, the young vet had the insight to open an ophthalmology clinic in an area with a gap in the market, marrying a personal touch with client affordability, creating purpose-built 4,000 sq ft premises bristling with state-of-the-art equipment.

But such things do not come without a hefty price tag. With a cash injection via a number of investors, the £800,000 dream project has come to fruition following a demanding journey.

Having graduated in 2014 in Greece, Ioannis is a recognised European and RCVS specialist in veterinary ophthalmology, having pursued a multitude of qualifications in the field that he has huge passion for.

After completing the mandatory national service in Greece following his graduation, the UK beckoned to enable him to follow his dreams.

He said: “I moved to the UK in 2015. I spent two or three years in general practice up north in Manchester, Liverpool and Blackburn. The reason I came to the UK was because I knew I wanted to specialise in ophthalmology; it was always the dream for me.

“At the time I moved to the UK, we didn’t have any specialists in Greece, so I had to come here to specialise.”

Early opportunities

An opportunity for a rotating internship opened up at Davies Veterinary Specialists in Hertfordshire – one of the largest multidisciplinary referral hospitals in the UK – and then Ioannis’ career really developed.

He explained: “I moved from a rotating internship to specialise my training to ophthalmology. I did my residency training there and then I stayed on and took over as head of department. So, I was head of department at Davies before I decided to do this.

“I was just older than 30 when I got that job, but I have to say, it is a matter of luck, as well – you have to be in the right place at the right time.

“If you asked me a few years ago, the answer I would have given is that I just want to do my job well enough, but I wasn’t thinking of becoming a leader or becoming an entrepreneur, or, you know, starting a business or leading a team. It was never the plan.

“I just was focused on doing the best I can do on a day-to-day basis. But I guess it’s what potential others see in you sometimes and the opportunities that appear. When the head of the ophthalmology department at Davies was leaving to pursue a different role, I had the support to move on to the top position.”

Going it alone

Then came along the chance to take a plunge into founding a business in Peterborough after nearly a decade working at referral hospitals.

Ioannis said: “There was an opportunity for this business forum. I was approached by some investors who knew me and, obviously, you have to have people believing in you – and that is just as well, as this project cost £800,000, so it was important they had that belief in me.

“I still have a big financial stake in the business, but the majority of the money came from the investors which will, of course, be paid back over time as the business develops.

“If you look at the map of the area, you’ve got lots of places doing what we do in and around London, in Cambridge, some of them up north, but there was a massive gap in Peterborough, north of Cambridge, Lincoln, Leicester, Nottingham, so this seemed the perfect place to do it and offer our help and support to local vet practices and owners seeking specialist treatment for their pets.”

Starting from scratch

Vet Eye Care opened just a few months ago, with Ioannis as the sole vet, a practice manager, three nurses and a client care specialist. The firm will be recruiting another vet soon, but Ioannis wanted to start with three nurses per vet because he firmly believes that  nurses being more involved on a day-to-day basis increases efficiency enormously as a practice.

With a 10-year lease and completely new building, he was able to create the inside of the unit completely from scratch to accommodate spacious kennels and dedicated wards for dogs and cats, a reception with separated dog and cat-friendly waiting areas, three consulting rooms, two theatres and an imaging room, as well as adding a first-floor level to accommodate a spacious staff kitchen, meeting room and offices.

He said: “The design of the interior was done by me, as was the layout of the building and the various dimensions of the different spaces and rooms. Everything came from the design I had in my head, and we are all very pleased with it.

“I knew what size of rooms I needed, what size the theatres had to be and the kennel area.

“I was still working at Davies when the work was going on here, but I spent what time I could overseeing things along with the investors, but the builders were great.

“The whole project, including planning, took just over a year from start to finish.”

High-cost discipline

The problem with ophthalmology is that it is one of the most expensive veterinary disciplines, so Vet Eye Care needed a lot of money to be invested in the kit.

Ioannis explained: “The two microscopes, the two cataract machines, the ultrasound and anaesthetic machines – we’re probably looking at £200,000 minimum for that.

“And then you need to add other things like additional monitors, the TV monitors, the blood machines and the cameras we use to photograph the front and the back of the eye. So, for the equipment, we’re probably looking at least £250,000 in total, I would say.”

He added: “We also have air conditioning in every room, and I also made sure the fit and finish was of a high standard – not just for patients and clients, but for the team, too. I wanted them to have somewhere to work that they could be proud of and wanted to be.”

Ioannis was keen to make his dream clinic a realistic one in terms of clients and pet owners which he feels gives the practice an edge.

He said: “We thought there was an opening in the market because of the way that we do things: we try to be more personal and affordable. I’ve worked in referral for quite a few years and what I can see is that the cost is climbing from month to month, year to year – things are getting more and more expensive.

“Personally, I cannot justify this to myself. And I’m thinking from a pet owner’s side of things that if my pet is insured for £7,000, and someone comes to me and says they want £7,000 to resolve an eye problem, then I’m left with nothing if my pet becomes unwell and needs further treatment.

“So, we have fixed pricing here which is very clear, and we are certainly cheaper than all of our competitors doing what we do.

“For example, most places will charge between £2,500 and £4,000 to treat a corneal ulcer, but we do that for £1,300, up to £2,500 for a complicated case – it is a big difference.

“But we still wanted everything to be as good as it can be, we don’t want to cut corners and we didn’t want to compromise on facilities or equipment, or the way that we treat animals, because that reflects what you do. But we try to do that in a way that is realistic and affordable for our clients.”

A strong start

So far, business is going well for the young entrepreneur and work is coming in thick and fast as word travels. However, that does not mean Ioannis did not have concerns and reservations along the way.

He explained: “Business is good – we have only been open for three months, but are already running a small profit and we have clients coming to us from the target area and even further afield in London, Milton Keynes and Cambridge, so news is travelling fast.

“We were a little bit worried because, you know, it’s a big investment and we didn’t know when we would start seeing profit coming. We’ve actually been making a small profit from the first month that we opened.

“Month after month, we are doing better and better, which is surprising, as our business plan was more conservative, but very rewarding and very positive.

“I have no children and, while I am getting married in July, my fiancée is a vet and is based here in the UK, so we are settled and at least she understands everything that is happening and the pressure on me to make this all work, and that helps to have that support.

“We have gone very big with this, and I think we have almost 4,000 sq ft of space with loads of room to expand upstairs with maybe a third theatre.”

A bright future

As Ioannis looks to the future, there are more aims and dreams in the pipeline for Vet Eye Care.

He enthused: “The hope is to get to five ophthalmologists in time, but this is the end goal – this business and this building, I don’t want to open up another site or anything, we can achieve what I want to achieve from here.

“When you look into growing further, then you can look into things like installing a CT scanner or an MRI machine.

“We have the space and the scope to expand to accommodate all that and we would like that in time as we continue to grow.”

Ioannis added: “If I build up good relationships with future colleagues, and they are happy to take on a leadership role as I did before, then the opportunity is there.

“It is still very early in my journey into ownership and the life of this practice, but we have made a great start, and I am happy that we will be able to grow at a pace that will allow us to keep up with demand.

“You have to take risks. If you don’t take risks, you don’t get anywhere. I took a risk taking on the role of head of department at a big hospital just older than 30, and I could have stayed there with a great team and good money, but when an opportunity comes to shape things in the way you dreamed, you need to follow that dream.

“This is what I always want to do.”