Practices battle to stay open

Despite many patients cancelling appointments, the majority of practices across the UK stayed open throughout the cold snap according to the findings of an Optician straw poll.

Dispensing optician Neil Vedmore, a partner at Ellis & Killpartrick in Cheltenham said that the store was open throughout the cold weather even though much fewer customers than usual made it into the store.

However, its sister practice in Bristol closed for a day due to staff being unable to get in according to assistant manager Mark Wilkinson. 'I live on the outskirts of Bristol in the countryside and it was difficult to get in through the snow. There were no gritters and we had six inches of snow,' he said.