With every Rx requested, the assumption is that the patient is going to get their spectacles elsewhere. To be honest, they usually do. I always advise them that it’s best to purchase their spectacles at the place they had their eyes tested, and I always give them the College statement about dispensing spectacles elsewhere: “Patients have a right to have their prescriptions dispensed where they choose.” However, I would never refuse to dispense an ‘outside Rx’ and am happy to accept the consequences if something doesn’t quite work out correctly.

Francesca Marchetti MCOptom Self-employed optometrist, Coventry