Poor service is main complaint

Poor service was the source of most complaints from patients to the Optical Consumer Complaints Service (OCCS) last year. Twenty three per cent of complaints resulted from a practice 'failing to deliver a proper service to a consumer', according to an OCCS annual report to March 31 2011.

Service was followed by spectacle prescription, multifocal lenses and frames in the number of complaints.

The OCCS said 833 cases were opened during the year, compared to 1,007 and 990 in the two previous years.

OCCS chairman David Burt said: 'We note from the complaints received over the year that there have been instances of professional standards being affected by pressure to meet targets, resulting in reduced attention to customer needs and reluctance to remedy any defects.