Affordability of sight test fee questioned

The pitiful increase in the sight test fee and its low level have created a situation where the affordability of providing full sight tests on the NHS must be questioned.

This is the view of Fees Review Committee member Michael Bateman writing in the annual report of the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians (FODO). Despite a hard-fought round, the increase was just 2.5 per cent, he writes. A dilemma of affordability was being faced.

'If the government genuinely cannot put any more money into sight test fees, then we may have reached the point where both sides, faced with the dilemma of affordability, may need to think seriously about whether the full and expanding range of eye care can continue to be provided for £18.85.'