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Paragraph 1 Persons to whom mandatory services are to be provided

Changes not yet applied. Later legislation changes this provision in ways not yet written into the text below:

(1)

Subject to sub-paragraphs (3) to (5), the contractor shall provide mandatory services under the contract to any eligible person if a request is made for such services by—

(a)

an eligible person who requires the services; or

(b)

a person specified in sub-paragraph (2), on behalf of an eligible person who requires those services.

(2)

For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), a request for services may be made—

(a)

on behalf of any child by—

(i)

either parent;

(ii)

a person duly authorised by a local authority to whose care the child has been committed under the Children Act 1989f1; or

(iii)

a person duly authorised by a voluntary organisation which is accommodating the child under the provisions of that Act; or

(b)

on behalf of any adult who is incapable of making such an application, or authorising such an application to be made on their behalf, by a relative or the primary carer of that person.

(3)

The contractor shall—

(a)
(i)

satisfy itself that the person is an eligible person by asking for satisfactory evidence that person is eligible, unless the contractor, in cases other than where the patient is a person specified in regulation 3(1)(d) of the POS Regulations (person of limited resources), already has satisfactory evidence of that available to it, or

(ii)

where the patient has been asked for, but not produced, satisfactory evidence that he is an eligible person, record that fact on the patient’s sight test form;

(b)

subject to sub-paragraph (4), ensure that particulars of the patient and the approximate date of the last testing, if any, of his sight are inserted in a sight test form by the patient or on his behalf; and

(c)

satisfy itself that the testing of sight is necessary.

(4)

If the requirements of sub-paragraph (3)(b) cannot be met, the contractor may, instead of satisfying itself that those requirements are met, satisfy itself that the person is an eligible person by referring to its own records or by measuring the power of the lenses of the person’s existing optical appliance by means of a focimeter or other suitable means.

(5)

The contractor shall only refuse to provide services under the contract to an eligible person if it has reasonable grounds for doing so, and those grounds cannot relate to a person’s—

(a)

race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical or ophthalmic condition; or

(b)

decision or intended decision to accept or refuse private services in respect of himself or a family member.

(6)

If the contractor refuses to provide services under the contract on any ground other than that it is not satisfied that—

(a)

under sub-paragraph (3)(a)(i), the person to whom it has refused to provide services is an eligible person; or

(b)

under sub-paragraph (3)(c), the testing of sight is necessary,

it shall keep a record of that refusal, specifying in that record its grounds for doing so.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1

1989 c.41.