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Frequency of eye examinations

A60
You should examine patients at the most appropriate intervals, depending on their clinical needs. This applies to both private and NHS patients.26
A61
Contact lens patients may need more frequent appointments for aftercare but are not entitled to more frequent NHS sight tests simply because they wear contact lenses.
A62
In the absence of clinical indications, you should not recall patients more frequently than the following intervals:
 
Patient age and/or condition  Recommended minimum re-examination interval

The intervals given below should not be taken as applying automatically to all patients in a category.
 

Up to 16 years old, no binocular vision anomaly or refractive error   One year
under seven years old, with binocular vision anomaly or corrected refractive error   Six months
Seven-15 years old, with binocular vision anomaly or rapidly progressing myopia   Six months
16 years old and over   Two years
with diabetes who are part of diabetic retinopathy monitoring scheme   Two years
with diabetes who are not part of diabetic retinopathy monitoring scheme   One year
A63
To ensure refractive error is optimally corrected, it may be appropriate to examine children who are myopic, or at risk for myopia, annually until the age of 12-13 years, and every two years thereafter’.27
A64
In the absence of clinical indications, you should not examine patients who are being monitored by the hospital eye service more frequently than every two years.