§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will place in the Library a copy of his instructions to hospital ophthalmic departments to replace the first pair of spectacles provided to a cataract patient with further pairs without charge for as long as the clinical judgment is that the eye is still undergoing changes.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe hospital eye service statement, a copy of the relevant parts of which I have placed in the Library, provides for temporary glasses to be supplied on loan for a post-cataract patient. It also provides that where a patient is genuinely unable to use lenses which have been prescribed and supplied and these are replaced by lenses to a new prescription, the total NHS charges payable by the patient are limited to those for the lenses finally in the patient's possession. Practice may vary, but I understand that authorities make use of this "non-tolerance" provision for post-cataract patients until the condition of the eye has settled.