“I bought these new specs and I still can’t see well enough”
“My optician says these are the strongest lenses I can have”
If I had £1 for every time I heard those comments, I would be a wealthy woman !
I hope my website will explain that there IS help available when you are utterly depressed because of failing sight. You feel you won’t be able to be independent any more and your self-esteem is rock bottom.
My mantra is “To send patients out Happier than when they came in”
I have been a Dispensing Optician for over 38 years, I have worked for large and small companies and held several management positions. I went on to become an examiner for my professional body, the Association of Dispensing Opticians (ABDO). Several years ago a friend persuaded me to study the Low Vision Honours course, run by ABDO. I had resisted as I thought I had put all those optical calculations behind me. However, low vision work, dealing with magnification, telescopes, lighting etc is really a natural progression of a dispensing opticians’ usual job of dealing with technicalities of spectacle lenses and frames. As well as good technical knowledge, the essential quality of a Low Vision Practitioner is an excellent “beside manner”, putting patients at their ease and understanding what a difficult time they may be experiencing.
I cannot give sight to the blind, but the art of Low Vision practice is to make the most of the vision a patient has, and sometimes the results are quite surprising.
I am the Low Vision Practitioner at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. We also offer an “Outreach” Clinic at the Fakenham Medical Centre, a lovely new practice with loads of free parking and easy access for anyone who is disabled.
Your Optician or GP can refer you to me. Your GP can use the “E-Referral” system and book you straight in, as long as there is no reason to see an ophthalmologist at the hospital. Waiting time should be no longer than four weeks.