Can anyone enlighten me as to exactly how housebound patients will benefit from the new legislation regarding home eye tests, namely the notification period required by PCTs of two working days for individuals and three weeks' notice for residential homes.
As a provider of domiciliary eye care I have been informed by my local PCT that should a new patient call with symptoms that I would normally see urgently, eg flashing lights and floaters, I cannot under any circumstances see them immediately. As I receive my calls in the evening, the new regulations mean a minimum wait of three days for my patient. However, if a patient telephones for an urgent appointment on a Thursday or a Friday, the wait extends to five days, as apparently weekends don't count as working days. The pct informs me under no circumstances can I see a patient earlier and do the paperwork retrospectively. This obviously puts me in a difficult position legally, never mind the risk to the poor patient's sight. The answer to the dilemma I am told is to refer to the GP, bearing in mind that these are housebound patients who aren't likely to be seen anytime soon by their already overstretched GP.
However, not only is the new legislation discriminatory in terms of the quality of eye care for housebound individuals, it is also likely to lead to a reduction in the number of home eye examinations. This, at a time when there is already a massive shortage of provision for a growing elderly population.
Imagine if a similar situation were applied to a high street optician. During quiet periods when the appointments are not all booked, the optician naturally wants to fill the gaps with 'walk-ins'. A law preventing the practice of seeing walk-ins would be ludicrous and no doubt the powerful multiples would bring pressure to bear to change the situation.
Now imagine the small domiciliary optician who can only see three or four patients a day and due to the age and state of health of his/her patients, cancellations are a frequent occurrence. Similarly, being unable to rebook one such cancellation during a quiet period will mean a massive decline in turnover and risks making the service unviable. This is an impossible way to run a business, be it on the high street or a domiciliary company and will surely have a detrimental effect on the provision of home eye examinations.
At the current time there are many whose age and infirmity mean they do not receive adequate eye care. This is partly due to lack of awareness of domiciliary sight tests on the part of the patient and partly a lack of availability of this service. This legislation now being enforced is going to make a bad situation worse. I intend to make a petition, which the local optometrists who support my company will sign and send it to the chief optometric adviser to the Department of Health, Derek Busby. I advise all domiciliary companies/high street opticians to do the same.
Robin Dawson
Colchester
Can anyone enlighten me as to exactly how housebound patients will benefit from the new legislation regarding home eye tests?