2002 No. 224

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

The National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2002

Made

Laid before the Scottish Parliament

Coming into force

The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 26, 70(1), 105(7) and 108(1) of, and paragraphs 2 and 2A of Schedule 11 to, the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 19781 and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement1

These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2002, and shall come into force on 3rd June 2002.

Amendment of the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 19982

1

The National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 19982 are amended in accordance with the following paragraph.

2

In regulation 1(2) (interpretation), in the definition of “NHS sight test fee”–

a

in sub-paragraph (a) for “£44.39” there is substituted “£46.16”; and

b

in sub-paragraph (b) for “£16.08” there is substituted “£16.72”.

MALCOLM CHISHOLMA member of the Scottish ExecutiveSt Andrew’s House,Edinburgh

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1998 which provide for payments to be made by means of a voucher system, in respect of costs incurred by certain categories of persons in connection with sight tests and the supply, replacement or repair of optical appliances.

Regulation 2 amends the definition of “NHS sight test fee” to reflect the values of the two levels of fees for National Health Service sight tests payable to ophthalmic medical practitioners and opticians. This fee is set at two levels depending on whether or not the sight test was carried out at the patient’s home and the appropriate figure is used to calculate the value of assistance towards the cost of a private sight test.

The fee for a test at home is increased from £44.39 to £46.16 and for tests elsewhere from £16.08 to £16.72.