Free Eye Test

bti-uk@msn.com

The receptionist at the opticians should ask you whether there is any history of glucoma in the family. If you answer yes, saying that your deceased father had it. they have to give you a free test anyway.

ivagoldfish wrote:

Latest Tesco magazine (free in-store) has voucher for free eyeNo need for all that, the optometrist's receptionist should ask you whether any of your family have had glucoma. I always say my father had it. (He didn't, but there is no way they can or do bother to check it). Because of the increased genetic risk, you are entitled to a free chck anyway. test (worth £20) at Dollond & Aitchison.

Insert by Martin

This is a great spot. The voucher's valid until 31 March. It's always good to check out your eyesight. The one thing to be careful of is if you have a problem you don't automatically opt for Dollond & Aitchison to be your optician (which is of course the reason it does it).

This free eye test also works in conjunction with the following articles Cut the cost of contact lenses or Glasses Buying. Of course remember aftercare is extremely important, don't skip on it!

ruxton28

golddustmedia wrote:

Additionally if you work with computer screens (VDU's) for more than 4 hours per day your employer has a legal obligation to meet the cost of your eye test.
I think that qualifies just about every office worker in the country and many more...

I've not had to pay for an eye test since I started working 10 years ago. If your HR dept is "not sure" remind them they get the good end of the deal; They pay the £20 test fee and you pay the £200 glasses cost!

You only get a very basic test to see whether your vision from eye position to VDU screen is OK. You still need a proper test in an optician. I go to Tescos every two years and its a tenner which is cheap enough

marcus_3-2

Good Advice again, thanks. Irrespective of any offers given by any optometrist/optician, from April 1st (not a hoax) 2006, any individual of any age or with any medical condition will be entitled to a FREE eye test in Scotland (not sure about any other countries). Said optometrists will be making claims to NHS and you are not restricted to give any subsequent business to the testing optometrist.

Evesman

A good friend of my is an opthalmic optician (i.e he makes the lenses up from your prescription) and he says that an increasing number of prescriptions are unreadable. He thinks that this is due to the fact that the 'in house' optician realises you aren't going to buy your new glases from them, so they deliberately put on their best 'doctors' handwriting!

Please check that your prescription is legible before leaving the shop. :cool:

skinflintt

Just a couple of points after reading the thread (I'm an Optician)

An Ophthalmic Optician is the person who tests your eyes. Our professional bodies favour moving over to using the American term "Optometrist" but the two things mean exactly the same.

To say that one seller provdes specs at £15 and another at £200 shows the high street markup is the same as arguing that a Kia at £5000 and a Porsche at £50000 demonstrates the markup on cars. Quality and style vary with price, as with most things in life I'm afraid.

bti-uk&#64 wrote: »

The receptionist at the opticians should ask you whether there is any history of glaucoma in the family. If you answer yes, saying that your deceased father had it, they have to give you a free test anyway.

Ooh now there's a thing. See you're right in that you would almost certainly get away with this but the test is not "FREE", it is paid for by the NHS, i.e. the taxpayer, so you are actually committing fraud and if found out could be prosecuted. You are also stealing money from the taxpayer, in other words, all of us. Not my job to police morals so your call..........

I don't begrudge people saving money and I hate the rip off merchants that are left in optics as much as the next man, but a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I, and several other Opticians on here I should imagine, would be quite happy to give unbiassed professional advice to anyone who wants it without insisting you buy anything :rotfl:

trumpet_2

Are all eye tests from these opticions the same ie just reading letters on a board or do they do other tests on the eyes as well.
Its not that i suspect a problem with my eyesight but i am years overdue for a test and would like to make sure i have a thorough check on them.

skinflintt

There are two main elements to a sight test, examining the health of your eyes (and while we're at it, getting a snapshot of other possible health probs you may not know about) and finding out your standard of vison and whether you need correction. All Opticians should give you an eye examination of the same standard as we all have to sit the same professional exams and demonstrate our competence to examiners, as well as continuing education and training. Obviously, as with most professions involving subjective opinion, different Opticians may come up with slightly different answers and there sometimes is no black and white answer. If you have difficulties come and tell us and we will do what we can to tailor our care to your needs. Checking the standard of your vison and establishing any correction needed can be done by various means including letters on a chart or screen, looking into a machine which will measure the error in your eyes optical system and shining a light in your eyes while holding a lens in front of them. Usually you will find a combination of these methods used. The health of your eyes is examined by shining a bright light into your eyes and looking at the inside and outside of them with powerful magnifying equipment. You may also have your field of vison measured by looking into a machine which will flash little lights at different places around the point you are focussing on and the pressures in your eyes checked by firing a little puff of air at them. This is often called a glaucoma test by the public which is not strictly true, but it does give us an indication.


Here's a link that gives the info in a much clearer way than I can
http://www.college-optometrists.org/index.aspx/pcms/site.Public_Related_Links.Public_Related_Links_Home/

Oh and by the way, it's no conspiracy, our writing is really that bad. Don't despair though, we're going computerised soon :rolleyes:
HTH

ashby

https://www.danda.co.uk/opticians/promotions/voucher

This voucher specifies that it is not necessary to purchase glasses.

Exceller8

Just a little note to let you know that if you are quick and have a hotmail account D&A optitions has voucher for free eye test (worth £20) at Dollond & Aitchison +£25 off a spend of £150 & £50 off a spend of £250 nationwide for a limited time approx 9 hours left just click print and phone for an appointment valid til march 05 hope this helps advert next to inbox on right

sashacat

thanks ivagoldfish, I have just picked up 4 mags...free eye test for each of the family