The Eye - Examination [back] Private and NHS Eye Examinations

Our optometrists carry out comprehensive private and NHS eye examinations. Please ask our practice teams for details of current private professional charges

The following groups of people are entitled to an NHS funded eye examination at no charge:

• Children under 16 or under 19 and still in full time education
• People of 60 years and older
• Those who receive, or whose partner receives, income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance or pension credit guarantee credit
• Those with glaucoma
• Those with diabetes
• People over 40 with a first degree relative (parent, sibling or child) who has or has had glaucoma
• People advised by an ophthalmologist that they are at risk of glaucoma
• Those registered blind or partially sighted
• People entitled to NHS complex lens vouchers
• Those named on a valid NHS Tax Credit Exemption Certificate or an HC2 voucher

You can apply for a HC2 voucher by filling in an HC1 form – ‘Are you entitled to help with health costs?’ This leaflet is available from our practices, post offices and GP surgeries.

NHS regulations ask you to bring proof of entitlement for a NHS eye examination e.g. passport, driving licence when you attend for your examination. We also ask that you bring your national insurance number.

Those groups highlighted above may also be entitled to an optical voucher towards the cost of spectacles or contact lenses. The value of the voucher depends on the strength of the optical prescription and the type of lens needed.
The optometrist issues vouchers when there is a clinical change in prescription, or when spectacles have been damaged through wear and tear.