§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state the number of eye tests undertaken by opticians under the National Health Service in the Leek parliamentary constituency in each of the past 10 years.
§ Mr. AlisonThe information is not available in the form requested. The approximate number of sight tests carried out under the general ophthalmic services by ophthalmic opticians in the Stafford shire Executive Council area is shown in the table below. Boundary changes were made to the area in 1965 and 1966.
Year Number of Sight Tests 1963 … … … 58,500 1964 … … … 67,900 1965 … … … 72,200 1966 … … … 54,500 1967 … … … 53,700 1968 … … … 55,200 1969 … … … 56.700 1970 … … … 61,800 1971 … … … 62,900 1972 … … … 66,300 These figures exclude sight tests by opticians under the hospital eye service, statistics of which are not centrally collected.