OT: Rant

As I said, my prescription has changed by half a dioptre in the past decade, so I don't qualify there either. The result being, as I said, the NHS will give me one free eye test every two years. If I want one more often, unless I can convince the optician of clinical need, as when I suffered a posterior vitreous detachment, I will have to pay for it.

Colin Bignell

It could be 7 years since I last used them. They mentioned binning records after 7 years. But why would they - it's not like they need much data space to spare. They're just text.

As I said, my distance prescription hasn't changed with age because of the hard contact lenses. And I do have some used spares. ;-)

Then it should be free.

But that wasn't the main point of my post.

How long ago did you suffer that?

I had one of those in 2008 (I think) and a few weeks later I had to have a detached retina bonded back down.

Symptom is a half moon moving towards your point of vision, as it detaches.

Dave

Care to read what you're replying to again? ;-) I said distance vision. Infinity. Where the eye isn't required to focus. Loss of accommodation is down to a mixture of muscle failure and hardening of the cornea. Which happens to everyone sooner or later. Although plenty are in denial. ;-)

I'd get one free too due to age.

I can confirm that ,about 15 years ago I had to have free eye tests and NHS spec vouchers every 6 months as my prescription was changing quickly. This was in Scotland and I was a teenager at the time, but I think the optician had the final say (ie he does need new glasses, and he needs an eyesight test in 6 months time)

Martin

It's ironic, when I was out of work and claiming benefits I had to pay for dentists and prescriptions (pre April 2011 in Scotland), because the benefits didn't qualify.

When I started back to work I got free dentists and prescriptions, because I got tax credits.

Owain

Data protection act? You get fined for any data lost, so deleting old stuff ASAP reduces the fines if it happens.

Why? It's "a prudent thing" to have your car serviced every so many miles - should that also be free?

Besides, the NHS isn't free at all.

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the NHS as much as anyone else, but it shouldn't take the place of people taking their own responsibility for themselves.

Retention of medical (including opticians) data was recently discussed in uk.legal.moderated

It has to be kept a long time.

If you paid insurance for this purpose, yes.

Nothing is free.

Then you should pay for each and every visit to a doctor too. Like for a routine check.

If the medical part of an eye test is a requirement for preventative health care it should be free. The part needed to correct eyesight could be separate. Plenty never or rarely wear the specs they're prescribed.

IIUC the test is not anything to do with the lens prescription, it's to check the health of the eyes. It's only required frequently, and as a condition of prescription of contact lenses, for that reason alone.

There is an argument that contact lenses are a vanity, and the state shouldn't support such frippery. I don't have a huge problem with that as a whole, although I do know a few people who get free CL tests because of health conditions - quite right too.

I'd guess the reason the test isn't free for you is that the NHS has better things to spend its money on.

Rob

If its because of the increased risk due to wearing a cosmetic aid (contact lenses are almost always cosmetic aids) then why should the NHS pay? There is a significant risk of infections (and other rarer conditions) due to contact lenses which is why you need frequent checks. They don't normally involve an eye test just a check up and the customer pays.

While I don't mind wearing glasses, I have tried contacts a couple of times, once with RGP hard lenses, once with daily disposables, I liked the increased field of view, and what seemed like better correction of vision, but in neither case could I get wear times up to a full day, without feeling like I'd got a tiddly-wink stuck in my eye for the RGP ones, or constant blinking to re-centre the soft ones. I haven't tried the monthly constant wear ones ... varios people tell me they forget they have them in, suppose the smoking ban might help too.

I forget, but it was a few years ago

Mine was violet flashes inside the eye. However, I was in France at the time and, when I returned, the optician told me that he could not refer me to the hospital because of the delay in seeing him. Instead he had to refer me to my GP, who referred me to the hospital. Looking on his list of response times, he told me that the hospital was supposed to book me in within 24 hours. When I saw the eye specialist, three months later, he told me he would operate the next day. It is always worrying when the NHS responds quickly. Fortunately, although there was a small tear in my retina, it had not detached and simply needed to be frozen around the tear to fix it permanently.

Colin Bignell

Quite agree, there are a range of NHS glasses available for free that will do a prefectly acceptable job of correcting ones vision. Any tests/checks and other costs required due to a persons personal descision to have other corrective eyeware should be paid for by them.

The general routine eye test at every two years should be free to all. Not just those of a certain ages or with a family history of certain diseases. Poor eyesight creeps up on you I bet there are a significant number of people out there driving that wouldn't pass the basic "read a number plate at 20 paces (or what ever it is) test. They think their sight is fine so don't see why they should spend money on test that won't find anything wrong.

Mum's glasses broke recently, and I found we had no idea what the prescription was. Had to go back to same optician anyway as they were still under warranty, and she had to order a new cheap pair too as the replacement was going to take too long. However, I made sure she got them to write out her prescription on a card which she now keeps in her handbag. She travels away from time to time, and to not have it to hand seemed to me to be unacceptable, given she can't see without glasses. Anyway, she now has a spare pair too, although they are fixed focus, not varifocals.

Soft lenses weren't around when I first got them - my originals were plain perspex. Gas permeable were a very real improvement in comfort. Like all such things, it depends on your motivation for wanting them. I hated wearing specs, which I'd done from a young age.

Oh - I smoke. ;-)

Thing is unless they are lost, a decent practice should be able to measure both contact lenses and specs. If they can't, and you're unhappy with what they've supplied, how can they tell if they were correctly made in the first place?