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Monthly Archive for: ‘June, 2012’
Contact Lens Value Packs
After the good news a few months back- that the Ciba + Alcon merger had gone through, and they were going to start bundling a better solution (Opti-Free Puremoist) in the valuepacks, now the bad news! Ciba has informed us of new prices effective July 1st. They have increased the cost price of the valuepacks by approximately 20% and recently also doubled the carriage charges. We have had no price increase so far- since the new and increased VAT rate of 23% we have managed to keep our pricing the same, but we cannot unfortunately absorb such a significant increase as this.
If you need to order a valuepack soon, please order it NOW, to avoid this increase!
Free Sight Tests SAVE Money!!
Scotland has saved £440m a year since introducing free sight tests for all in 2006, a new report has revealed.
“The economic impact of free eye exams in Scotland” found that the policy of free tests encouraged an extra 285000 tests per year over those last six years. As a result, the study concluded that enough treatable eye disease was detected and so could be treated, preventing many cases of Blind and Partial Sight registrations which explains this huge saving. The cost of blind registration, social welfare aid, home helps, rehabilitation and retraining is huge.
Ireland, with a similar population, could possibly save a similar amount of money- some people are entitled to a funded eye test because of a medical card, or PRSI contributions. However the universally available eye examination in Scotland was an “enhanced exam”. Optometrists had to undergo further certification, and maybe training before being allowed to provide the enhanced exams, and they were paid more for this service- the amount the government paid per eye examination increased significantly, yet still overall there was a massive REDUCTION in eye health related costs.
In the UK, the Association of Optometrists is now pushing to have this Scottish system enlarged to cover England and Wales, and they are hopeful that the precedent set in Scotland of “Spend more but save even more” will speak for itself.
It is unlikely that the government here will try to SAVE MONEY in such a way – it takes about 5 years for the benefits to begin to show (that is how long it takes the undetected eye diseases to show up, on average), and unfortunately therefore, a government that introduces a scheme like this may not be in power to reap the benefits down the line!
If nothing else it highlights the importance of regular eye examinations- sight is precious, look after yours!
Spare Spectacles – You need them!
A lady came into our Kingscourt branch on Friday, quite disgusted that her nearly 4 year old spectacles had had a lens come out. This was because the nylon cord that holds in the lens had snapped. She had “paid a lot of money” for the spectacles (nearly 4 years ago), but a piece of nylon can break at any time (but rarely does unless the spectacles get twisted).
The point of the post is that she was even more disgusted and incredulous that we did not have any spare spectacles in stock to suit her prescription, so that she could borrow them until hers were repaired. Her glasses were fixed over lunchtime, but we cannot possibly have spectacles to suit any and every prescription just in case someone has a problem- everyone’s eyes are so different. She was politely advised to consider getting herself a spare pair, to avoid a recurrence.
If you cannot manage without your spectacles, a spare pair is very important- many European countries have a legal requirement to have a spare pair in any car you are driving, just in case!
If you purchased a pair of specs from McLeish Optometrists, or have a receipt for a pair purchased elsewhere, we will give you an extra 15% discount off another pair, if purchased within 6 months of the originals.
Conditions apply, enquire in store quoting Offer15.
