Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP meets experts delivering eye and hearing health care on the high street
Sir Iain Duncan Smith visited Specsavers Chingford to see how its experts deliver neighbourhood hearing and eye care - and are able to do more to support the NHS.
The MP for Chingford and Woodford Green spoke to the team about the NHS services provided by the locally owned and run store on Old Church Road in Chingford, Greater London. Sir Ian also heard about how Specsavers is able to support NHS commissioners deliver improved access to community hearing and eye care.
‘It was a pleasure to learn more about how Specsavers Chingford is looking after the local community’s health and supporting the high street, providing valuable jobs in health and retail care,’ says Sir Iain.
‘I was also interested to hear about how Specsavers can help the NHS deliver more consistent community glaucoma services and urgent eye care services across London. The team explained that such services would bring care closer to home for local people and ease pressures on NHS hospitals.’
Rupa Patel, ophthalmic director and one of the partners at the store, says that the visit was an opportunity to talk to the MP about the role of community opticians and audiologists.
‘We are proud to be part of our community,’ Rupa says. ‘We also talked about how, as health care experts, we are ready and able to support the NHS deliver access to more consistent community eye and hearing health services.
‘Specsavers is committed to working with local health commissioners to ensure everyone has access to the community eye and hearing health services they need.’
Specsavers has more than 1,000 stores throughout the UK and is the leading provider of NHS primary care optometry services – testing more than 20 million eyes every year. It also provides more than 40% of NHS community audiology services in England, supporting more than 200,000 NHS audiology patients a year.
Specsavers Chingford is open seven days a week. To book an appointment, visit the website or call the store on 020 8506 3780 for eye health specialists and audiology care.
For those that can’t leave their homes unaccompanied due to disability or illness, Specsavers also offers a Home Visits service covering more than 90% of the UK.