StemCell Therapy

NewsHealthLatest UK coronavirus opening rules for Boots Opticians, Specsavers and Vision Express explained

Wednesday, 27th May 2020, 3:41 pm

After Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his chief aide Dominic Cummings claimed that having coronavirus affected their eyesight, people may be keen to get their own eyes checked after recovering from the virus.

Lockdown restrictions in the UK are now beginning to slowly ease, with England moving into phase 2 of lockdown from 1 June.

Non-essential shops are being allowed to reopen from 15 June, but does this include opticians? And what should you do if you have an eye care emergency?

Heres what you need to know.

When did opticians close?

Opticians ceased running routine appointments when the UK entered into lockdown.

When will opticians reopen?

Routine appointments remain suspended in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, but those who need essential and urgent eye care can still access help.

What is essential eye care?

This includes, but is not limited to appointments for patients who would not normally be considered to be emergencies, but where a delay in an examination could be detrimental to a patients sight or wellbeing.

This could include situations where patients have broken or lost their glasses or contact lenses and need a replacement pair to function.

What is urgent or emergency eye care?

This is where urgent clinical advice or intervention is needed, e.g. for red eye, contact lens discomfort, foreign objects, sudden change in vision, flashes and floaters, or where the patient has been advised to attend a practice by NHS 111 or another healthcare professional for urgent eye care.

Which opticians are offering emergency eye care?

Specsavers has suspended all routine eye appointments, but the CEO John Perkins, said: We will though still remain open to support people in the communities we work in if they need urgent or essential care.

However, not all stores are open during this time and some of their stores have changed their normal working hours.

The Specsavers website explains that if youre having any problems with your eyes, the best thing to do is to call your local store, who will ask you some questions about your symptoms and will be able to arrange either an essential appointment, over the phone or with their RemoteCare service.

They will then let you know whether you should come into store for an urgent appointment.

They may even refer to you to an eye emergency department. If you do need to come into store, the chain is following government guidelines to make this as safe as possible.

Vision Express, Asda Opticians and Boots Opticians have also remained open for urgent and emergency appointments, but again, not all branches are open.

You are advised to call your local branch if you have a problem, so the optician can assess your situation and whether or not you need to be seen face to face.

See the original post:
Are opticians open during lockdown? Latest UK coronavirus opening rules for Boots, Specsavers and Vision Express explained - inews

This entry was posted on June 1, 2020 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |