Moneo writes: Why do politicians continue to lie about the availability of NHS eye services?

In recent weeks I have seen a number of patients in my practice who have attended because of symptoms such as flashing lights, floaters, unexplained pain, sub-conjunctival haemorrhages and the like. Now most people reading this column will say that is nothing out of the ordinary and I would agree. The common link to all these patients is that they were over 60 and therefore entitled to NHS sight tests if eligible. However in every one of these cases it was not appropriate to carry out an NHS sight test and hence they had to pay privately for my services.

Every single one of those patients required medical care and indeed some of them may have had sight or even life threatening conditions with the symptoms reported. The reason for highlighting these events is that on none of these occasions should that person have had to pay me. It should be the responsibility of government to pay for these services. I am heartily sick of hearing politicians bang on about how they treasure the NHS and its fundamental tenet of “free at the point of need”. When it comes to eye care in England this is just untrue. What is worse is that those who espouse it most often from prime ministers to secretaries of state for health, health ministers or their opposition shadows already know that what they are saying is untrue. They know people have to pay for these services “at the point of need.” So why do they continue, to put it bluntly, to lie to the nation? We may never know the reason they choose to do this.