Letters: January 04

I really am beginning to feel sorry for opticians who moan about the degrading value of the eye test fee, but are incapable of asking a ‘patient’ to pay for their time even when that patient has presented a perfect opportunity to be charged a realistic fee.

My wife was on her own with a locum optometrist last week when a lady came in and asked if someone could take a ‘quick look’ at her eye. My wife phoned me to find out whether there would be a charge. Readers will not have to ponder for long to know what my reply was. The lady in question had not been to us for seven years. She thought she had a contact lens stuck in her eye. She had tried Boots, but the optometrist was on his lunch, so she chose to come in to us – suppose we should have been honoured.