Ultralase aims for more in-house

The Leeds-based business is spending around 250,000 on the London upgrade so it can carry out intraocular procedures within its own facilities.

The procedure tends to be more invasive and is suitable for customers with complex or extreme eye conditions.

Tony Veverka, chief executive, said Ultralase has offered the procedure for a couple of years, with all pre-operative work carried out in the existing network of clinics.

"For the operation itself we need different theatre conditions that are more akin to full-scale hospital treatment suites," he said.

"For that we used a series of partnerships with hospitals all over the country to do the treatment and we rent the theatre space. What we intend to do is bring that in-house.

"Our clinic in Harley Street closed today for a month for refurbishment and to revamp the theatre so that it has the right theatre space for this intraocular procedures.

"We will have a central London facility to do this procedure ourselves. For the consumer perspective, it means the journey is more joined up and all within Ultralase premises. For us it means slightly better margins."

If successful, the company will roll out the improvement programme to strategic positions across the UK.

Last week, Ultralase confirmed details of a restructuring, in which banks took a majority stake in the business, which was bought for 174m by private equity firm 3i two years ago.

Ultralase placed one of its holding companies into administration and sold it the same day to a new vehicle called CLVC Group, which is backed by Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Bank of Ireland.

The deal released new funds for the business.