Unhelpful Opticians

mark1024

My partner has been having some problems with her eye the past few days. It started getting worse and she wanted someone to have a look. It became very bloodshot and painful. We know from past experience that our local GP has referred us to opticians as they are better able to quickly see if there may be a problem.

Well on saturday she went out and popped into two local opticians hoping the optician / optometrist would have a quick look. In both cases this was refused, and all that was offered was a normal eye test (for around £35) This was not what she wanted, and so refused. The local Boots pharmacist was more helpful and at least offered an opinion, without any hard sell. She has just left Moorfields Eye hospital after a lengthy consultation, with a number of drugs and eye drops to fight a very bad eye infection.

The two opticians only cared to help if either they had sold her contact lenses or if she wanted a normal sight test. It was pretty obvious that her eye was badly inflamed at this point. She tells me this would not happen on the continent. In Spain for example an optician is more akin to a pharmacist and will offer advice, like the boots service. Maybe there is some code of practise in the UK, but we are not impressed at all. In fact I would go as far to say the service is pretty low - especially given how much opticians charge for glasses etc here.

She did have a good 'old fashioned' optician in London, but unfortunately he has retired, the shop probably replaced with optical retailer or other.

Emmzi

I've had the same.

Boots etc tend to have optometrists, and maybe one overbooked 'proper' optician, in my experience.

I'm now registered with an independent opthalmic optician, who offers a much better service and has never been too busy... a quick search of yell.com will route out someone with what I'd call 'proper' qualifications.

asea

Do they not have to take the hippocratic oath when they qualify or is that just Drs?

kathyb1230

Even when you manage to have a qualified optician look at your eye, it doesn't mean you're going to get good treatment.
I was recently told by a high street optician that I had a scratch on my eye. Told to leave it alone and it'll get better. It got worse, really nasty and bloodshot and very painful, so back I went.
This time I was told that I had an ulcer on my cornea, but again, told to leave it alone. Bear in mind, this is from a qualified professional!
Cue a lengthy visit to Moorfields. Apparently, an ulcerated cornea is very serious - if left untreated, it can actually permanently affect your eyesight. I was sent away with drops to use every hour for 48 hours (inc all through the night, I was not a happy bunny!!), then back to Moorfields for further investigation and possible admission for intensive treatment.
As it happens, my eye reacted very well to the treatment, so I didn't need to be admitted. Still have to use drops for a further 3 weeks, and not allowed to wear my contact lenses for 6 weeks!

Sorry for long ramble, but it's now my firm belief that as soon as anything goes wrong with my eyes I'll be straight back to Moorfields - your eyesight is far too precious to take risks with.

RadoJo

Well, I would never have thought of going to an optician if I had a problem with my eye other than sight, and this hasn't encouraged me.

Do opticians have a duty of care to someone who isn't 'their' patient? Doesn't the NHS cover any eye care or treatment?

mark1024

kathyb1230 wrote: »

but it's now my firm belief that as soon as anything goes wrong with my eyes I'll be straight back to Moorfields - your eyesight is far too precious to take risks with.

Glad your eyes reacted well to the medicene. My partner also has half hourly drops for the next couple of days. We are lucky to have Moorfields available and we share your view on what to do in the future.

Our GP has previously recommended opticians, in general, rather than any specific one, which is why she went there first. Unless we do find a helpful qualified optician again locally we will veer on the safe side and visit the hospital.

I just wonder how these people can look at themselves in the mirror after turning away someone in need of help. I'm not surprised many people look towards the internet when sourcing glasses nowadays.

grannybroon

Sorry, I have eye problems with cysts etc (not glasses related) and unless your problem down to contact lenses, or something like that was reason for referral to optician, would have contacted doctor or out of hours or pharmacist. I have never been referred to optician - referred directly to hospital when totally in need.

Just realised we do not have eye test fee here in Scotland so that one would not be a factor here.

GB

nedmundo

Just to stick up for Opticians. Legally, if we agree to see a patient, we are responsible for their entire ocular health. That means that if we see someone for just a 'quick look' at a red eye & fail to take a detailed history & symptoms, measure vision and refraction or check inside the eyes etc, then in the eyes of the law, we are potentially being 'negligent'. You will appreciate that to do all the above properly takes more than a few minutes and cannot easily be squeezed in without incoveniencing all the patients booked into a busy clinic schedule!

Even if we could just take a quick peek. All we could then do would be to refer via the GP to the Hospital Eye Service. Red eyes are usually bad news and I would expect any GP to refer to the HES swift quick if they were not sure of the diagnosis, rather than pass the buck to someone with their hands tied behind their backs!

I appreciate how it appears to patients (or customers as some refer to them) but unfortunately we live in a litigious society and are therefore minded to protect our backs as well as looking after the best interests of our patients (or at least I am). Having said all that, under proposed NHS reforms, some Optometrists will be accredited to see Red Eye patients but these schemes have to be carefully set up with protocols and audit (to name a few political buzz words) , all of which means that things move forward very slowly.

Andy_L

asea wrote: »

Do they not have to take the hippocratic oath when they qualify or is that just Drs?

Most Drs don't anymore. The GMC has a code of professional ethics which covers the same sort of stuff (ie acting in the best interests of the patients) but bins the obsolete stuff.

mark1024

OK well thanks for the info. If the optician had offered to do a full examination of her eye she probably would have been happy to pay. She was becoming more than a little worried at that point. It was the blank unconcerned manner of the 'its £35 for a standard eye test' which was unhelpful. It certainly gave the impression one had entered a retailer rather than sought the advice of a health professional. But if the situation is as you describe then I'm not surprised the receptionists turn people away. Its a strange world when an 'optically' unqualified pharmacist will proffer an opinion of an eye condition, and not worry about being sued.

Like I said, unless things have changed recently, in Spain she would have been seen. I'm also used to visiting the optician very regularly due to side effects of medication, after my GPs advice.

Thanks for at least explaining the situation.

Butlers1982

youll never guess who i bumped into the optition last week?


everybody!