To not want to pay for DS Eye Test

[ineedsomeinspiration]

DS (7) got his first glasses in September after reported his school work was jumping around the page. He'd never complained before and had been doing well at school. It turned out he needed a strongish prescription and to wear glasses all the time. Had a hospital referral to check prescription and for lazy eye. All good and told next check this September.

However this last week or so he's been complaining of his work jumping and describing what seems like double vision. I of coursed phoned the Opticians as presumed first point of call would be to get his eyes checked again rather than GP. I've made an appointment but been told as he's not due his NHS eye test till September if his prescription doesn't need changing then I'll have to pay £25.

NHS website seems to suggest you can have a free eye test earlier than scheduled if deemed clinically necessary. Surely a 7yo boy complaining of weird vision would deem an eye test clinically necessary? I'll pay it if I have to because I want to make sure he's OK but they'd be plenty of people who couldn't and may not take their child as result. Although I'm sure DS is fine surely these in some could be symptoms of something more serious than the wrong glasses?

Would you pay if asked or kick up a fuss?

Yes, I was going to say dyslexia. You can get a coloured lens to lay over the work. Schools will know about this. Contact school senco and also optician with a view to discuss dyslexia.

but if prescription hasn't changed and something else is causing it then I will. Would your eyes change that much in 8 months? Absolutely they could.

Pretty sure my kids started out on 1 month recalls at just turned five. Then it was three months then six months for a couple of years. Every time, new pair of glasses needed!

I think they went to annual at around 8.

I myself started wearing glasses at seventeen! Guess what, I started off on six-monthly-recalls!

Jemima232 its a very well known high street chain.

Dd was experiencing double vision 6 months after her last eye test. Was told if it wasn't clinically needed we'd have to pay. Reception lady spoke to optician who said it was clinically needed so no charge, she got her first pair of glasses and review in 6 months

My ds needed an eye test before his nhs one was due as he was getting headaches and the dr advised that that be the port of call. I didn’t have to pay just told them he’d been advised by the GP to have an eye test.

This was specsavers so might be different policy depending on the opticians.

If they've increased time between recalls for children to save money, this is an extremely short-sighted policy.

Boots charged for my 14 year old even though they found something he had to be referred to the hospital for. His prescription hadn't changed at all. He'd already had his yearly check and the government only pays for one.

Where do you draw the line otherwise? It's not a bottomless pot of money.

Specsavers? They aren’t any good with complicated prescriptions. I gave up with them after so many issues with my dc prescription. I now see an independent who has plenty of time and we get a better service. No eye sight issues anymore. We had glasses that weren’t the correct prescription issued to dc, causing visual disturbance and falling over. Poor dc was black and blue, until we worked out the crappy glasses were causing it, lost faith in them, and moved to independent.

Please look into visual stress/visual processing disorder/meare's irlen syndrome. I wasn't diagnosed until 43 and struggled all through school etc. I saw the same symptoms in my son and he was also diagnosed last year. If diagnosed your son may get great benefit from tinted lenses.

Optician can arrange referral. We went through optician who wrote to GP who referred on to hospital. Bring it up with optician, sadly it is still very often missed.

the NHS are really cracking down on frequent/early retests, esp for children as lots were being tested 3 and 6 monthly with no real clinical need and then also getting the NHS voucher for specs so it's a pricey business for them.

If he is not the sort to have you on and is complaining of similar issues to before then I would definitely go back, I'd be surprised if there isn't a change tbh.

Aside from that are his specs still fitting well, no wonkiness from bumps or slipping as they have widened, or just not fitting well as he has had a growth spurt? Be worth getting the Dispensing Optician to have a check while he's in there.

If it was a hospital prescription he needs to go back to the hospital unless he has been discharged. Opticians aren't allowed to refract children that are under hospital care.
But unfortunately its correct that unless there is a prescription change, even if he's having jumpy vision, the NHS wont find a normal test. Some areas have a MECS or PEARS scheme that covers ocular issues not related to prescription but not all areas of the country do this.

My daughter has dyslexia and we had to pay privately for both the special eye test and the glasses, as they were not covered under the NHS. The jumping around you are describing is what my daughter told me happens to her as well. Good luck and hugs.

hairypaws I'm wondering if this may be it. He's slightly above average in his reading at the moment though so seems strange. He's actually complained about it when he's doing maths but that may be as it's his favourite so he works harder and looks at the pages/text more.

The person at the opticians is correct and following NHS guide lines. I had similar with my 82 year old DM. They warned that I'd have to pay if there was no change in her prescription as it had only been nine months, I was prepared to accept the risk. DM was actually urgently referred to the hospital eye department. As your DS has already been to the hospital give them are call and get advice.

ShakespearesSisters The hospital referral was to check the original prescription and to check for a lazy eye to see if it needed a patch. They said they were happy for him to go back to normal Opticians.

MsMightyTitanAndHerTroubadours All fitting fine, he broke them a short while ago getting changed for PE so they fit was checked when they were repaired.

Looks like I'm going to have to pay then and possibly even more for extra tests/ glasses if it is visual stress. It seems odd as he's done well at school up till now and never complained before this year.

honestly I seriously doubt they'll charge you, I bet there'll be a change.

DS had his first eye test a couple of months ago. He doesn’t need glasses but they’d dahd to come back in six months. He does have heterochromia and anisocoria though.

As your DS is under 16 and presenting with symptoms then he can be covered by the NHS for a sight test. There is an early re test code used on the payment form (GOS) sent to the NHS by the opticians practice.

Unfortunately it sounds like that who ever you spoke to wasn’t as knowledgeable as they should be in this matter.

Some opticians can do a visual stress test, which you do have to pay for.

A friends ds had a similar issue - numbers moving on the page. He has glasses, went as far as having scan for headaches and turned out he's dyslexic. Took ages for the diagnosis as school didn't seem to think there was an issue. Friend brought him for private assessment.

Double vision warrants a trip to GP.

@Thingsthatgo
Do you consider others defrauding the NHS lovely or is your optician an exception as she saved you money?
The policy is what is it and while I don't agree with such a blanket policy some opticians were recommending 6 monthly checkups for all children for no real reason seemingly in order to claim more money from the NHS so something had to be done.

My Dyslexic youngest had managed extremely well and was in the top reading group. She had worked out her own method of reading where she remembered what the whole word looked like. So rather than breaking down a word by sound she just remembered what a word looked like. The educational assessor person who came to school said she couldn't understand how she had remembered so many words and that it couldn't last.
It was only when she went to upper juniors and words and books got harder that she started to really find reading harder as she couldn't remember the whole words anymore.

She was much older than your DC when she mentioned the jumping words.

user2928362 I will pay but what concerns me about this is it could put people off whose children really need to be seen but they can't afford the £25. I can kind of understanding them upping the amount of time between glasses as I expect they were worried about opticians recommending 6 monthly just to get the fee.
I guess I'm just irked as a family we use the NHS so little and then when my baby has something that really does need checking I'm going to have to pay.