Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
These Regulations further amend the Optical Charges and Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for payments to be made, by means of a voucher system, in respect of costs incurred by certain categories of persons in connection with eye sight tests and the supply, replacement and repair of optical appliances.
Regulation 2 amends the definition of “health service sight test fee” in regulation 1(2) of the principal Regulations. This fee is set at two levels depending on whether the sight test is carried out at the patient’s home or not, and the appropriate figure is used to calculate—
the value of assistance towards the cost of a private sight test; and
the value of vouchers towards the cost of a private sight test or towards the supply of glasses or contact lenses.
These two levels of health service sight test fee are raised by regulation 2 as follows—
the figure used where the sight test is carried out at the patient’s home is raised from £36·65 to £37·83 (3.22%); and
the figure used in all other cases is increased from £13·41 to £13·71 (2.25%).