
1 

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Contact Lens (Specification) and Sight Testing (Examination and Prescription) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 5th July 2005.
(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.
(3) In these Regulations –
 “medical practitioner” has the same meaning as in the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972; and
 “the Sight Testing Regulations” means the Sight Testing (Examination and Prescription) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989.
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Where a medical practitioner issues a specification to an individual to whom he has fitted a contact lens, pursuant to section 25(5) of the Opticians Act 1989, it shall contain the following particulars –
(a) the name and address of the individual;
(b) if the individual has not attained the age of sixteen on the day the specification is issued, his date of birth;
(c) the name of that practitioner and his registration number in the General Medical Council’s register of medical practitioners;
(d) the address from which that practitioner practices;
(e) the name of the practice on which premises the fitting was done;
(f) the date the fitting was completed;
(g) sufficient details of any lens fitted to enable a person who fits or supplies a contact lens to replicate the lens;
(h) the date the specification expires; and
(i) such information of a clinical nature as that practitioner considers to be necessary in the particular case.
3 

(1) In regulation 3 of the Sight Testing Regulations (examination) –
(a) in paragraph (1), for “paragraph (2)” there shall be substituted “paragraphs (2) and (3)”; and
(b) at the end, there shall be added paragraph (3) –“
(3) The provisions of paragraph (1)(b)(ii) do not apply where the doctor or optician refers the patient to an ophthalmic hospital, in accordance with paragraph 10(2) of Schedule 1 to the General Ophthalmic Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986.”.
(2) In regulation 4 of the Sight Testing Regulations (exceptions to the duty to issue a prescription or statement) –
(a) at the end of paragraph (b), delete “or”; and
(b) after paragraph (c), insert –“
 ; or
(d) the patient is being fitted with contact lenses as part of the medical or clinical treatment provided for an eye condition.”.
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety on 13th June 2005.
Dr. J. F. Livingstone
A senior officer of the
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
