# Sadly the new specs.



## postman (2 Nov 2022)

Sadly the new specs have not stopped the blurred vision in my one good eye.Popped in to Specsavers who did say come back of still troubled,so I did,advice and I knew already what they would say contact your GP so I walked to the surgery and after trying to find spot for pre booking appointments,I was asked start ringing prompt at 08-00.I might as well it could take months to get to hospital with the backlog.


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## annedonnelly (2 Nov 2022)

Have you talked to your optiican about it?


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## Juan Kog (2 Nov 2022)

Earlier this year at my Specsavers examination the optometrist spotted a possible problem at the back of my left eye . Initially he said come back and see me in 3 months then changed his mind I will refer you . Within 10 days I was seeing the doctor at the community eye care clinic , I’m on 3 monthly checks, so far all ok. 
My point is I think Specsavers should be organising referrals , not you having to cope with the frustration of your GP booking system.
BTW I’m in South Hertfordshire.


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## Salad Dodger (2 Nov 2022)

Mrs Salad was becoming very troubled by double vision. So much so, that she had stopped driving as she was seeing two of everything, and not particularly close together.

She booked an appointment with Specsavers, who urged her not to order any new glasses straight away, whilst they booked for her to see a hospital opthalmologist.

It took about three months for the appointment to arrive. The opthalmologist did lots of tests, far more than a normal eye test, and declared that Mrs S needed glasses with "prisms" built in. Initially she gave Mrs S a clear plastic thing that adhered to one lens of her existing glasses. It looked like a series of tiny vertical blinds, which approximately corrected Mrs S's vision. She also sent Mrs S for a precautionary brain scan (insert your own jokes at this point!) and made another appointment for a couple of months time.

The brain scan ruled out any nasty causes for the double vision, and confirmed it was a problem only with the eye muscles. 

A second set of extensive tests saw Mrs S leave the hospital with a prescription detailing not only the usual figures for lens eyesight correction, but also the amount of prism correction for each eye.

Back to Specsavers for a new pair of glasses. She chose mid priced frames, with reactolite lenses and the prism correction, and the whole bill was about £140. Not very dear, considering the specialised nature of the lens correction which was included. To be honest, I would have gladly stumped up three or four times that much if it meant that she could see properly once again. Now, she is back to driving and is no longer plagued by double vision. It hasn't stopped her "back seat driving" when I'm behind the wheel!

Moral of the story: it was a referral from Specsavers that kicked the whole process off...... Our local one was very helpful indeed.


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## cyberknight (2 Nov 2022)

mrs ck had no end of issues with her new varifocals, went back twice to specsavers 
Apparantly they have changed lens provider so the height of the reading bit of the varifocals was wrong and then the bridge needed adjusting


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## Sharky (2 Nov 2022)

I've found specsavers very good and understanding. I had a test and a new pair, but couldn't get on with them. They retested and decided to put my prescription closer to what it had been before. Changed the lens and have been happy with the new pair.


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## postman (2 Nov 2022)

annedonnelly said:


> Have you talked to your optiican about it?


Yes I went at lunchtime,they told me to see my GP I walked in to try and book but I have to start ringing at 08-00 tomorrow.After Googling it seems it will not go away so I bet I get more drops and paste,the present prescription does not last a month.Also I won't go blind,that was something I was thinking about.


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## annedonnelly (2 Nov 2022)

The thought of losing your sight would be very worrying. I'm pleased that's not going to happen.

Good luck with getting an appointment in the morning!


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## vickster (2 Nov 2022)

postman said:


> Yes I went at lunchtime,they told me to see my GP I walked in to try and book but I have to start ringing at 08-00 tomorrow.After Googling it seems it will not go away so I bet I get more drops and paste,the present prescription does not last a month.Also I won't go blind,that was something I was thinking about.



What does the optician think is the issue? Cataracts? Infection? Dry eye?


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## postman (2 Nov 2022)

vickster said:


> What does the optician think is the issue? Cataracts? Infection? Dry eye?


The meeting was me explaining symptoms after buying glasses three or four months,the suggestion was see GP.So I am get my tomorrow.


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## annedonnelly (3 Nov 2022)

@postman Did you get a GP appointment? Have you seen anyone yet?


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## postman (3 Nov 2022)

annedonnelly said:


> @postman Did you get a GP appointment? Have you seen anyone yet?


Not yet I tried at 08-00 message was all lines busy,so tried later message all appointments for today are taken up , try tomorrow I am painting at the church hall.I will try again before I leave.


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## annedonnelly (3 Nov 2022)

Our GP has a similar system where you have to call at 8am. In my limited experience you have to keep calling constantly until you finally get through.

Good luck tomorrow!


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## annedonnelly (10 Nov 2022)

@postman did you get your eyesight/glasses sorted out?


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## postman (10 Nov 2022)

annedonnelly said:


> @postman did you get your eyesight/glasses sorted out?


No I went in and could not get an appointment at reception,i was asked to ring at 08-00 the following morning,i tried was told all appointments for that day were full.So I ordered my prescription on line and have started to put a little bit extra in my eyes.But after seeing over seven million seven hundred thousand have not even started treatment,i don't think a bit of blurry eye will get me far,so I am going to give it three months of extra gell and see how it goes,but Google your friend tells me nothing can improve but it's highly unlikely to lead to anything worse.It seems dry eye is quite a common ailment.thanks for asking.


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## ColinJ (10 Nov 2022)

annedonnelly said:


> Our GP has a similar system where you have to call at 8am. In my limited experience you have to keep calling constantly until you finally get through.


I go to the local health centre and stand for minutes in a queue of people at reception rather than spending many times as long in a queue of telephone callers.


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## vickster (10 Nov 2022)

ColinJ said:


> I go to the local health centre and stand for minutes in a queue of people at reception rather than spending many times as long in a queue of telephone callers.



He does say above he couldn’t get an appointment despite going to reception in person?


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## ColinJ (10 Nov 2022)

vickster said:


> He does say above he couldn’t get an appointment despite going to reception in person?


Oops - yes, he _did_... 

Well, that is double-bad then!


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## presta (10 Nov 2022)

I've never really been content with my spex ever since first started wearing them, but I don't really know whether it's my spex or my expectations that are at fault. Specsavers are satisfied because I can easily read the smallest print on their card, but only with one eye, so I can't do any 3D work that requires stereo vision. The opticians will tell you it's because I have a congenital cataract in my left eye, but if it's congenital you could be forgiven for wondering why it didn't affect my sight for ~45 years. I was going to buy a lathe and make steam engines when I reached a time of life when I couldn't walk or cycle, but I can't see a thing, so there's no point. I can't do anything with electronics any more either for the same reason.



postman said:


> I walked in to try and book but I have to start ringing at 08-00 tomorrow.


Our surgery dispensed with the 8am telephone scrum recently, we now have a system where you answer a set of triage questions (the same as NHS 111: are you conscious, are you breathing, etc), then someone tells you whether you can have a call from the doctor. On the face of it it sounds good, but when you call, instead of being in a queue of ten 30 second calls (can I have an appointment......yes 11:35........ok, thanks), your now in a queue of people each spending 10 minutes answering triage questions.



vickster said:


> He does say above he couldn’t get an appointment despite going to reception in person?


At ours, if you went in person you still had to do it at 8am.


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## mistyoptic (11 Nov 2022)

presta said:


> I've never really been content with my spex ever since first started wearing them, but I don't really know whether it's my spex or my expectations that are at fault. Specsavers are satisfied because I can easily read the smallest print on their card, but only with one eye, so I can't do any 3D work that requires stereo vision. The opticians will tell you it's because I have a congenital cataract in my left eye, but if it's congenital you could be forgiven for wondering why it didn't affect my sight for ~45 years. I was going to buy a lathe and make steam engines when I reached a time of life when I couldn't walk or cycle, but I can't see a thing, so there's no point. I can't do anything with electronics any more either for the same reason.
> 
> .


Congenital cataracts tend to be at the posterior face of the lens in your eye. They are often quite small and dense. As you age, your pupils typically become smaller. When you try and do close work, again your pupils reduce in size (and more effort is needed because your eyes are losing flexibility and thus focussing range). Thus the cataract becomes relatively bigger compared to the pupil that you’re seeing through. This means it has a bigger effect on the picture quality than it used to


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## oldwheels (11 Nov 2022)

Juan Kog said:


> Earlier this year at my Specsavers examination the optometrist spotted a possible problem at the back of my left eye . Initially he said come back and see me in 3 months then changed his mind I will refer you . Within 10 days I was seeing the doctor at the community eye care clinic , I’m on 3 monthly checks, so far all ok.
> My point is I think Specsavers should be organising referrals , not you having to cope with the frustration of your GP booking system.
> BTW I’m in South Hertfordshire.



It may depend on the franchise operator. Specsavers in Oban wrote to my GP and also phoned the local pharmacy to check on the availability of specific eye drops before prescribing. They appeared to be limited in what they can prescribe so got my GP to do it.


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