Nhs Lens cost?

[matt28]

i was wondering if anyone knows the score with Nhs provided contact len's and if you have to pay for them or not or are they provided free like any other Nhs service.

[red-eye]

I wear an RGP lens, I had to pay £51 (ish) for the single one.

If your a full-time student or on benefits etc, you should get them free (quite similar to getting a prescription medicine I believe).

[Andrew MacLean]

At the moment I think that the NHS lens cost is around £52 per lens, although if your prescription or fit changes in a 12 month period, subsequent lenses are dispensed free.

The actual cost of some special lenses for people with KC comes to over £1000, so £50ish is a good deal!

Ancrew

[rosemary johnson]

Current NHS charge is 51 pounds 90 pence. This goes up in April each year, like prescription charge.
If you are on certain benefits and have no/low reserves you can apply for help with costs on a form HC1 (I think). This has to be done each time. Unfortunately it is a huge and complicated form and I can imagine it costing umpteen lenses worth in accountants/IFA's fees to get it filled in!
SOme hospitals add on a postage charge (to get the lens sent to you) - this varies; also in whether they add it on automatically whether you want it posted to you or not, while some insist you make an appointment to come and collect it.
Theoretically, if you pay for a new lens and when it comes it isn't right, they'll refit and reorder for the same fee all within the same 12 months. Personally, I've never found this to work - there's always some reason they can't reissue, like, it was my fault for not trying it out more thoroughly, or my half my notes have been lost so they can't prove it was within the last year..... hope you have better luck.
Rosemary

[Andrew MacLean]

Odd how these things vary from place to place: my own experience is that the second or third lens is dispensed without further cost, as a matter of course.

Anyway the principle is the same whether you live in Aberystwyth, Antrim, Auchtermuchty or Althrincham: you pay the standard NHS charge per lens and if your fit or prescription changes in 12 months you are supposed to get the replacement lens dispensed within the same fee.

Andrew