Eye tests can detect chronic diseases

The locum optician began working in about 30 care homes across Northern Ireland in February 2003.

The tests were for diagnosing diseases such as glaucoma or retinopathy, as well as to detect failing eyesight.

The optician was working for a private firm contracted to the Eastern Health Board, which has begun an inquiry.

The board said a team of opticians would be carrying out fresh tests on the pensioners, beginning in the new year.

Professor Jonathan Jackson from the Central Services Agency is part of the team investigating the work of the optician.

He said the team could not be sure that individuals in the homes had undergone the full range of tests that should have been carried out.

Eye disease

"Tests to do with the measuring of the pressure within the eye, the health of the back of the eye, the state of the front of the eye," he said.

"We can't be sure from the clinical records that these tests have been done.

"Secondly, given that as a background, we can't be absolutely sure that the spectacles that these people have been given are appropriate spectacles."

He said someone could have a chronic eye disease, such as cataract or glaucoma, which has gone undetected.

"We cannot be absolutely sure from the records whether those have been assessed appropriately and dealt with," he said.