General Ophthalmic Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

Testing of Sight

14.—(1) A contractor shall, having accepted pursuant to the regulations an application for the testing of sight, test the sight of a patient to determine whether the patient needs to wear or use an optical appliance, and on so doing shall fulfil any duty imposed on him by, or in Regulations made under, section 26 of the Opticians Act 1989.

(2) Where a contractor or an ophthalmic medical practitioner or optician assisting him in the provision of general ophthalmic services is of the opinion that a patient whose sight he has tested pursuant to sub-paragraph (1)—

(a) shows on examination signs of injury, disease or abnormality in the eye or elsewhere which may require medical treatment; or

(b) is not likely to attain a satisfactory standard of vision notwithstanding the application of corrective lenses;

he shall, if appropriate, and with the consent of the patient,

(i)

refer the patient to an ophthalmic hospital,

(ii)

inform the patient’s doctor that he has done so, and

(iii)

give the patient a written statement that he has done so, with details of the referral.

(3) Where a contractor tests the sight of a patient diagnosed as suffering from diabetes or glaucoma he shall inform the patient’s doctor of the results of the test.

(4) Where a contractor issues to a patient a prescription for glasses, he shall, immediately thereafter, require the patient to acknowledge its receipt on a sight test form.

(5) A prescription for glasses issued following a testing of sight under general ophthalmic services shall be completed by the method recommended in Appendix A to British Standard 3521: 1962 (Glossary of Terms relating to Ophthalmic Lenses and Spectacle Frames) published by the British Standards Institution, as effective on the date of its publication, and shall comply with any requirements as to its form specified in the Statement for the purposes of payment in respect of the sight test.