Written question asked by Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 8 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 March 2004. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Wednesday, 24 March 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what monitoring has been undertaken by his Department of the availability of opticians who will accept NHS vouchers for prescriptions for spectacles; what representations he has received on the reimbursement of opticians by NHS organisations of the value of NHS vouchers for spectacles; and if he will make a statement. - Inc figure.

Answer: Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what monitoring has been undertaken by his Department of the availability of opticians who will accept NHS vouchers for prescriptions for spectacles; [160677] (2) what representations he has received on the reimbursement of opticians by NHS organisations of the value of NHS vouchers for spectacles; and if he will make a statement. [160678] Ms Rosie Winterton: All optical premises registered on a primary care trust's list will accept national health service optical vouchers provided under the general ophthalmic service. At December 2002, there were 6,139 premises on PCT lists in England. The Department has received occasional representation from individuals about the cost of optical vouchers not meeting the cost of spectacles. We recently announced that optical vouchers for people with high prescriptions would increase by 10 per cent, from 1 April. This will help with the additional cost of these high prescription lenses. As announced on 12 February we will continue to keep these voucher values under review.

Secondary information