§ Mr. HaselhurstTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will publish the report of his Department's optical adviser on the accuracy and reliability of autorefraction and auto optitesters for testing sight;
(2) if he will permit the lower tier sight test proposed in his recent consultative letter to be conducted by staff who are not qualified opticians using an autorefractor and an auto optitester.
97W
§ Mr. Mellor[holding answer 23 March 1989]: The Opticians Act 1958 provides that sight tests may only be conducted by a registered medical practitioner or registered ophthalmic optician. We have no plans at present to change this requirement. I am not aware of any report on autorefractors or auto optitesters but I understand that autorefractors and auto optitesters offer a reasonably accurate method of testing sight although they cannot provide a test for binocular vision.