Did optician overstep her role?

[Username427]

Something has annoyed me and I am not sure whether it is me being unreasonable so posting for a different perspective on the issue.

I took my elderly father for an eye appointment regarding his declining eyesight due to macular. He went in to see the optician on his own, he is perfectly able to communicate and is mobile. About 4 weeks later he had a text message from GP surgery to ask. him to make a telephone appointment to discuss communication from the optician. After worrying about the reason for this and concern for his eyesight, the GP appointment turned out to be a check on his mental health because the optician through he seemed depressed. GP perfectly happy with his mental state and no cause for concern.

The optician has never seen my father before, he is 94 limited eyesight but lives with my mother and I am their main caregiver when they need help with anything they cant manage. He may not smile a lot but then he struggles to see so it's a constant strain for him but he is a lovely gentle man with no depressive tendencies ever. I feel offended that instead of speaking to either my mother or myself this was done out of turn. My father was not asked for his consent for her to raise this with his GP.

I am tempted to ring and ask why she didnt speak to me, my telephone number was given for contact and I spoke to the receptionist a week later to arrange a date to pick up a magnifying glass for him so they will be aware of my power of attorney regarding health and welfare..

Am I being to sensitive?

OP someone suffering from depression is not a sign that their family don’t love them. You don’t really think that, do you?

It’s a very odd take on what is a perfect example of joined up care imo

I absolutely agree with you, as you'll see from my other comments.

I think it fantastic she did that. Of course she can’t screen for depression and ask him as she’s not qualified and passed him to someone who is. You seem so have taken offence that he might have been depressed as a slight against you

I think it's incredibly patronising and yet another way of infantilising the elderly and it seems that a lot of people on this thread think that's just fine

"if she had said he seems depressed I would have reassured her that he has a loving attentive extended family who visit regularly. We are an extremely close family"
That in no way means a person can't be depressed and kind of implies that depression could be avoided if only the family had been more loving, attentive or visited more often.
It's a bit like the 'winning the battle' or 'losing the fight' with cancer, implying if only those who 'lose' had fought harder.

i think the optician was being caring.

Optician here! Your optician has done her job and is perfectly within reason to ask the gp to check this. I imagine they told your father they would be contacting the gp.

As a GP I don't think this is particularly bad. Opticians are health professionals and I don't think there's anything wrong with saying to the GP Mr X seemed a bit down, can you see what you think. Yes the optician could have phoned the daughter but he may not have known that the daughter had given permission.... wouldn't be on optician notes...
I think it's quite good the optician was looking out for him. My dad is 93 and id appreciate any observations other people pick up.
I did draw the line at a pharmacist suggesting I stopped an elderly persons antidepressant as they seemed not to be depressed....erm that's because he's now on antidepressants!

With that kind of logical the pharamist could work in a school SEND department.

It’s not an overstep. An optician is a health professional. Optician could have asked some pertinent questions, and the answers made the optician think OPs dad might benefit from a GP review. Or Op’s dad might have said something which made the optician concerned about his psychological well-being. Op’s dad sounds like he has capacity, and therefore it would have been totally inappropriate to speak to OP, and a massive breach of confidentiality.
As an aside if OP’s dad was depressed and decided to do himself in, the optician recorded in notes potential concerns and didn’t refer to GP, the optician would be for the bloody high jump.

if she had said he seems depressed I would have reassured her that he has a loving attentive extended family who visit regularly. We are an extremely close family.
That in no way means a person can't be depressed and kind of implies that depression could be avoided if only the family had been more loving, attentive or visited more often.
It's a bit like the 'winning the battle' or 'losing the fight' with cancer, implying if only those who 'lose' had fought harder.

Well I think that shows a bit of lack of understanding on depression.
I hope he does get some support for his depression if he has it or any other MH issues he's got.

I guess you just really don't want to imagine someone having depression when you feel like you're doing your best to make them happy. But it's not like that sadly.