Monthly Archive for: ‘May, 2020’

We are pleased to advise that we will be reopening on Monday 18th, but unfortunately be aware that it will not (cannot) be business as usual.

Due to safety requirements we will have to impose the following “rules”.

To ensure social distancing we will only be able to accomodate one client at a time. For this reason we will be running with the door closed and are asking that all wishing to visit PLEASE CALL US IN ADVANCE. We will have a door bell, but for your convenience, please call us to arrange a time to come in – it may just be a case of suggesting you postpone for 5 or 10 minutes.

Please come alone, unless you require a carer to accompany you. If the person with you is only a “driver”, they should not attend.

Unfortunately it is not possible to perform a routine eye test at a social distance, so the Association of Optometrists is recommending that all routine tests be postponed at this time. In cases of sight loss, pain or other issues we will happily see you, but it will not be a full normal test for the moment.

If you need new spectacles, we will do what we need to arrange that, and schedule the remainder of the eye test at a later date.

Contact Lens checks should be a legal requirement before we can issue repeat contact lens prescriptions, but again under these unprecedented circumstances these have been allowed to be postponed, assuming there are no issues.

All visitors should be COVID symptom free and not aware of having been exposed to anyone who may be infected, but we all know that! Anyone who wishes to be examined should bring a mask with them to wear in the test room. We have masks and other PPE on order, but predictably they are well beyond their expected delivery date. They also cost a significant amount of money, so we are not able to give them away – we suggest you bring your own. We will call you before your appointment to check your health and also do the normal “history and symptoms” which would is usually done at the start of the test.

Every visitor will need to give us their details – name, address and a contact telephone number, so that we can record this for tracing purposes, should it be necessary. This even applies if you are only droping in a relative’s frame to have screw inserted, or collecting something on behalf of someone else.

These “rules” are subject to change at any time – no-one has dealt with a situation like this before, but between us we will get through this.

For the foreseeable, I do not think that there is too much point in us being open normal hours – there just will not be the demand for testing, or perhaps not the ability!

We are going to go with Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 4pm.

We will have an answering service for the rest of normal business hours – leave us a message and we will get back to you.