2002 No. 1326
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, ENGLAND

The National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Amendment (No. 3) (England) Regulations 2002

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
The Secretary of State for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by paragraph 2A of Schedule 12 to the National Health Service Act 19771 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencment, interpretation and extent1.

(1)

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

(2)

In these Regulations “the principal Regulations” means the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Regulations 19972.

(3)

These regulations extend to England only.

Amendment of regulation 1 of the principal Regulations2.

In regulation 1(2) of the principal Regulations (interpretation), in the definition of “NHS sight test fee”, for the amount “£44.39” substitute “£46.16” and for the amount “£16.08” substitute “£16.72”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health

Hazel Blears
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
Department of Health
(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Regulations 1997 (“the principal Regulations”) 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 and repair of optical appliances.

Regulation 2 amends the definition of “NHS sight test fee” in regulation 1(2) of the principal Regulations to reflect an increase in the two levels of fees for National Health Service sight tests payable to ophthalmic medical practitioners and opticians (as determined under Regulation 10 of the National Health Service (General Ophthalmic Services) Regulations 1986–S.I. 1986/975). These amounts are relevant to determining eligibility for vouchers which may be used towards the cost of a sight test and the redemption value of such vouchers to those carrying out such tests.