Omen writes

Getting real

While the report of the health select committee on NHS charges may contain some crumbs of comfort for the optical professions, it has also caused anger with its apparently uninformed comments on the availability of spectacles within the value of optical vouchers.

No one can argue with the principle of spectacles being available free of charge to those who cannot afford them, but there is a difference between this and requiring NHS contractors to supply them at no cost irrespective of whether or not the value of the voucher covers their real cost.

Those of us who lived through the changes that were made to the General Ophthalmic Services will recall that one of the few benefits that came out of Ken Clarke’s assault on the eye care professions was the replacement of NHS spectacles and their associated badge of poverty with a voucher towards the overall cost.