eye test and glasess

norfolkshops

i need help with advice please about going for an eye test and pating for glasses

first of all im 60 claiming incapacity benefit for me and my wife

will i get ant help towards this .i know its free eye test but how do i claim ,do i ask the optician if he decides i need glasses

if i make a nhs claim any idea what i will recieve

many thanks in advance ,the more info the better please tc all

dzug1

You will get a free sight test.

You may get a contribution towards the cost of the glasses if they have complex lenses

The optician should guide you - though some are not very good about it.

GlasweJen

You need to be on income based benefits. So either income support, pension credit guarantee element, tax credits (with an NHS exemption card), Income based job seekers allowance or income based employment support allowance.

If you don't get any of those benefits you can apply for help with health costs using a HC1 form. You can get these forms from pharmacies, opticians (best to get the form and the answer back before the eye test, gets complicated otherwise), the job centre and some doctors surgeries. If you get help with health costs (depends on income and some deductions) you will either get an HC2 certificate or an HC3 certificate. HC2 grants you the full NHS voucher, HC3 tends not to be worth the paper it's written on in terms of optics but show it to the optician anyway.

For HC forms they MUST be presented at the test. Your NHS voucher will be issued by the optician and entitle you to a basic pair of single vision glasses or bifocals if appropriate. You will have to pay for any upgrades such as tints (unless medical), coatings, and possibly a contribution towards frames if you go for one that isn't in the opticians NHS range. If offered id pay for insurance as the NHS only give you a voucher every 2 years and replacing broken glasses gets very expensive. Don't expect to pay more than £15 for this sort of insurance, most cover accidental breakage but not theft or loss.

norfolkshops

thank you very much for information,just one qustion please,any idea how much i will pay if its the basics and is there a link to this plus i am going for a test on the 19th jan as my own doctor told me to see an opttician and even if i fill this form in ,i would not recieve it back in time for eye teat
i was told by my daughter the optician will help you with this form and give the price and how much it is towards the glasses,
what about this offer http://www.specsavers.co.uk/offers/nhs-deals/


For HC forms hc1 do i fill it in and then the opician will deal with it and give me a voucher???
You may also get help with the cost of charges if:

• 
  
• you're 60 or over (for NHS prescriptions and NHS sight tests)

GlasweJen

For HC1 you fill it in and send it off, your optician won't fill it in. It's not a specialist form at all just your name and address, some details on your income and expenditures such as rent, council tax and other things the government think are essential.

The over 60s is only for optical eye tests, not for optical prescriptions.

As for the specsavers advert, I can't answer this as I don't know their offers. I work in the independent end of optics and try to keep out of matters on the high street. I can tell you that your prescription dictates your voucher value. A voucher for someone with a basic prescription is £36.20, someone with a slightly complicated prescription (over a 6 sphere or 2 cyl) is £55.10, a more complex prescription (sphere over 10, cyl over 6) is £80.60. Bifocals wise you'd either get £62.70 or £72.40. I can't remember the value of the higher vouchers, I'm on long term sick leave but you'd know yourself if you needed glasses of this strength.

If you need a pair of glasses for reading and a different for distance wear you'd get a voucher for each but as its issued on one piece of paper you need to choose them at roughly the same time, once your voucher is submitted it cannot be resubmitted.

I should point out I'm in scotland so some rules may be different if you're in England or Wales.

norfolkshops

many thanks again for your reply and i hope it helps any one who wants to know tc