The National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 1991

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) Regulations 1989 (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for payments to be made, by means of a voucher system, towards the cost incurred by certain people for a sight test and in respect of costs incurred by certain categories of persons in connection with the supply of optical appliances.

Regulation 2 substitutes a new definition of “NHS sight test fee” in regulation 1(2) of the principal Regulations (interpretation) so as to take account of tests made on domiliciary visits. (The amount of that fee is used, in determining entitlement to assistance for, and in calculating the value of a voucher for, a private sight test.)

Regulation 3 amends regulation 15(3) of the principal Regulations (redemption value of vouchers for supply of optical appliances)to provide that where a patient was not eligible for a contribution towards the cost of his private sight test under Part III of the principal Regulations, the value of any voucher issued to him in respect of the supply of glasses or contact lenses following that sight test will be reduced only by the amount by which the patient’s contribution exceeded the lesser of the NHS sight test fee or the cost of the private sight test.