Limit eye tests to emergencies only in England during COVID

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Government backing to limit eye examinations and stop routine eye tests to prevent spreading of COVID and minimise public risk. Scotland and Wales have already done so...England needs to follow. Providing healthcare should not be at the expense of workers. Precautions needed in place to protect them

Opticians are open to public and anyone can walk in without appointments. There is no predicting who will walk through the door and how many people. Staff are in close proximity to patients at all times and pose a risk to themselves, their family and the public. Examination should be limited to emergencies only to minimise foot fall and public risk. Health and well being before business!

Why it was rejected

The UK Government or Parliament was already taking the action it asked for.

Since you started your petition NHS England has written to opticians stating that all routine optical services are suspended, and Urgent and essential eye care should be delivered from a limited number of optical practices only: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/04/C0127-optical-letter-1-april-2020.pdf

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/

Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Timeline

22 Mar 2020	Petition opened for signatures
22 Apr 2020	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21

Status Rejected

Rejected 22 Apr 2020

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