Letters: January 12

Clarifying visit rules

Further to Raymond White’s letter of response (December 15) to the article ‘Caring for individuals’, we felt it would be useful to clarify one aspect, which he terms as an ‘important point’.

Statutory Instrument 480 2005, Amendment to Schedule 1, 39 (5) states: If the contractor is unable attend the place at which he has notified the primary care trust that he would be attending, he may instead, on that day and at that approximate time, provide mobile services at another location (‘the substitution’), provided that the trust notifies him that it agrees to the substitution.

We hope that this clarifies how it is possible to ‘slot’ patients into a schedule, while still working within the regulations regarding pre-notification.

Anne Fedrick
On behalf of the Domiciliary Eyecare Committee representing ABDO, AOP, College of Optometrists and FODO