Glasses and the Health Services voucher scheme. Free glasses are still possible… but for how long? There is no reason anyone should be without two lens glasses – at present.

If the administrators are allowed to ration hearing aids , why not ration out lenses as well? One eyed men can be kings!

Services reduce access to one lens only?  Free glasses are still possible under the Health Services voucher scheme,  but for how long? NHSreality advises claimants to get on with it if they have not already….

NHS to begin denying people hearing aids for first time – politicians will still deny it….

My own optician (Maggs Optics) has provided the information below. There is no reason anyone should be without two lens glasses – at present. With their tunnel vison the politicians are unable and unwilling to see a comparison with hearing aids..

Some time ago NHS glasses were replaced with the NHS Voucher scheme (help with NHS Costs). This scheme allows a patient who qualifies for an NHS Voucher to use this towards the cost of glasses. Glasses vary in price from optician to optician. Most opticians offer a range of glasses which would be covered by the NHS Voucher. Therefore, there is nothing to pay. The voucher value depends on the power of the lenses and the type of lens. Single vision vouchers currently start from £38.70. Bifocal from £66.80. See (Am I entitled to an NHS Optical Voucher?)

Some examples of those entitled to NHS Vouchers are:-

children under 16 or full-time students under 19

and patient’s recieving benefits such as:-

income support. income based jobseekers allowance, income related empolyment and support allowance, pension credit guarentee credit, tax credits and are named on a valid NHS tax credit exemption certificate, named on a valid HC2W (Low income)

Nicola Oakley on 23rd September in the Mirror reports: How healthy are your eyes? Expert explains importance of regular sight tests from early age

Alyson Koe in the Derby Telegraph 19th September gives a good account in “Keep a close eye on optic health”…

 

NHS to begin denying people hearing aids for first time – politicians will still deny it….

This is important precedent. Once rationing is accepted and not fobbed off as prioritisation or restriction, then the press and media might start to get the message across. Rationing is inevitable, and its just a matter of whether it is overt or covert, and whether it is national or a post code lottery.. Politicians just won’t know where to go, or to put it..

North Staffordshire clinical commissioning group takes unprecedented step of refusing to give devices to mainly elderly patients with mild hearing loss – Denis Campbell reports in The Guardian 1st October 2015.

The NHS will start denying people with hearing problems access to hearing aids for the first time from Thursday in a controversial move that critics claim will worsen sufferers’ social isolation.

The GP-led NHS clinical commissioning group in North Staffordshire is taking the unprecedented step of ceasing to provide free hearing aids to mainly elderly people in its area with mild hearing loss.

It is also making it harder for those with moderate hearing loss to get access to hearing aids by introducing new eligibility criteria against which patients will be judged.

Campaigners and hearing experts have criticised the new policy as “ill thought-through, baffling and unprecedented”.

The CCG says the new restrictions are necessary to help it save money, and will save it about £200,000 in the first year. But the charity Action on Hearing Loss claims that hearing aids cost the NHS as little as £90 each.

The CCG estimates that its new policy will lead to about 500 people a year no longer getting a hearing aid to help mitigate the decline in their hearing capacity, which sufferers say damages their quality of life…..

…Meanwhile, North East Essex has become the second area of England to stop funding fertility treatment for women experiencing problems conceiving. It decided earlier this week to only now pay for IVF in occasional and medically complicated cases, such as for women who have been diagnosed with cancer. …..

Mid Essex CCG has already stopped paying for fertility treatment, and Basildon and Brentwood CCG is due to decide soon if it will follow suit.

“It is shameful that only the well-off in North East Essex and Mid Essex will be able to access fertility treatment. Fertility services should be available for everyone eligible for treatment; not just the rich,” said Sarah Norcross, co-chair of campaign group Fertility Fairness.

“This is a clear example of health inequality in practice. If you have the misfortune to have a fertility problem, then the only way is not Essex.”

The overt rationing news – just for a few days

A definition of “rationing”, a Freedom of Information request, and a financial and political storm brewing.. Denial continues..

A definition of “rationing”, a Freedom of Information request, and a financial and political storm brewing.. Denial continues..

Rationing hearing aids could cost you dear – “There is a perfectly good reason we have two ears…”

Reality – a word not used by Politicians in Health – is that Hearing aids and vasectomies are rationed as NHS pressures bite

Anger as hearing aids are rationed by the NHS: Hard of hearing patients given only one device to be worn on left OR right ear

Study shows close relationship between deafness and dementia. Patients who lose their hearing aids are being charged between £50-£100 for a replacement.

Making cuts in health services without involving politicians in discussion or debate about why!

Deafness in professionals – are you one of them?