GENERAL OPHTHALMIC SERVICE

What is available under General Ophthalmic Service (GOS)

Under the Sight Testing Regulations 1989, when a practitioner is testing sight they have to carry out:

(1) an examination of the external surface of the eye and its immediate vicinity
(2) an intra-ocular examination, either by means of an ophthalmoscope or by such means as the doctor or optician consider appropriate
(3) such additional examinations as appear clinically necessary for the purposes of detecting signs of injury, disease or abnormality in the eye or elsewhere.

Under the contract, a contractor may not seek to mislead a patient about the availability, quality or extent of services available under these arrangements.  This does not however in any way rule out contractors offering services to the patient privately which are not part of GOS as they have always done.