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Opticians and the NHS
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
This kind of follows on from my thread in the Health forum. I have just had to spend £240 on stuff because of my bad eyes. I could never afford this on my own at the moment, hence I am having to get some help from my parents. My question is, with so many people needing glasses and contact lenses, and with such high costs, should there be more optitions services available on the NHS? If not, why not?
Deleted and reposted due to dreadful spelling of optician in the topic
Deleted and reposted due to dreadful spelling of optician in the topic
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I'm a soon to be poor student though, I can't afford to pay 100's on my dodgy eyes.
If that means extra funding through taxes, so be it.
You might not have to because you'll be on a low income. If you're on a low income there is a form you can fill in to get help towards medical costs.
Yeah, but even though I will be on my own at uni, I only get the minimum amount of loan due to my parents earnings, so I'm not sure if they will class me as 'low income'
Please pick up a copy of the form 'help towards health costs'. They won't ask your parents income, they'll ask yours. The NHS is a completely seperate entity to the SLC and won't ask your parents income, just your own.
Thats cool, I know it's slightly off topic but where could I get one?
Post office (main ones) or Social Security office ?
Im a firm beleiver that anything with eyesight should be free. Its a medical condition so surely tests should be free for everyone and also maybe not give free contacts but basic glasses (not tints etc) should be made availabe free.
I agree :yes:
Poor eyesight would mean more accidents and later on, people coming in asking for medication for migrains... I think it'd be better for pople to be tested for free... or cheap.
Your GP's receptionist should be able to give you one. Having said that, some of them are incompetent fools. I'm super receptionist though, so naturally I know where everything is, but other's aren't quite as good as me.
but then what about teeth?
i have good eyesight, but my teeth are appalling and i spend hundreds every year (which i haven't got) sorting them out.
you have to draw the line somewhere, i think, otherwise the more urgent parts of the NHS will suffer.
and you can get free lenses and frames on the NHS, if you are under 19 or on a low income. they might not be the best looking frames in the world, but looking good costs.
I do think it is unfair, as glasses or contacts are essential for so many people.
Your teeth should also be free, having toothache is one of the worst things anyone can ever suffer, so prevent it and make sure people get free dental health checks.
I say free lenses should be available to everyone, what if they are just 5.00 over what they class as low wage ?
Also why should you not get free dental treatment ? its a thing which is causing you great pain so why should your pain not be treated like someone who has back pain ? (bad example but I cant think at the mo lol) but hopefully you get the gist of what im saying.
Problem is that the cost to the NHS would be enormous. We're not just talking a couple of pence on the tax rate here.
So the NHS rations it's services. So, just as people are asked to pay for tablets etc they are asked to pay for glass, teeth etc. There are exemptions, there are reductions and this can lead to totally free service...
TBH if the NHS met every single health demand out there, you would see a doubling of existing funding. That;s if we could even get the staff.
Until I changed jobs recently, I really wasn't aware of just how massively underfunded parts of the NHS really are...
I don't mind though. It's like paying for prescriptions.
The tax burden is high enough as it is, the majority who do not have bad eyesight will not want to pay hundreds a year towards the minority who do on top of what they already pay.
Also , can you imagine how much more the NHS would become overstreched? Its already buckling, dont add more pressure to it.
The majority of the population will suffer with poor eyesight during their lifetime.
It's age related...
You could say that not investing during their working life is just short sighted. But that would be a bad pun.