By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 7th August 2024. In this guide, we’ll discuss when optician negligence claims may be possible and how the process of making such claims works.
The General Optical Council is a regulator that oversees the 29,000 eye care professionals that work in the UK. Of the various optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians, and optical businesses, it is the opticians who are the best known to the public. There is an optician on almost every high street in the United Kingdom, providing eye care to the population in a number of different ways. For example, they can let you know whether you require glasses or contact lenses.
But with so many opticians and so many people requiring their services every year, it should be no surprise that mistakes, errors, and accidents can occur. Occasionally, the negligence of an optician can lead to serious health concerns for the patient. As a result, that patient may be owed compensation. In this guide, we will discuss the steps involved in making optician negligence claims and how to maximise your chances of winning a claim made against an optician when negligence on their part can be proven.
As well as how to make a claim, we’ll also be covering things like the number of active opticians in England and Wales in recent years. Additionally, we’ll mention one possible way to tell if what you experienced was actually negligence.
If you have any additional issues on the topic of optician negligence claims, then don’t hesitate to call our advisors on 0800 073 8804. Alternatively, you can use the pop-up window in the bottom right to speak to us, or even fill out the online contact form on our website.
Select a section:
- How Much Are Optician Negligence Claims Worth?
- How To Begin An Optician Negligence Claim
- How Long Do I Have To Make An Optician Negligence Claim?
- What Different Reasons are there for making an Optician Negligence Claim?
- What To Do If You Have Been a Victim of Optician Negligence?
- NHS Optician Negligence Compensation Claims
- No Win No Fee Optician Negligence Claims
How Much Are Optician Negligence Claims Worth?
Settlements for successful optician negligence claims can be made up of two heads: special damages and general damages. Every successful optician negligence claim will result in general damages, as this head compensates you for the harm you have suffered.
The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) help lawyers, solicitors, and other legal professionals value this head of claim by offering guideline compensation amounts for different types of injuries. In the table below, we’ve included some JCG 16th edition entries regarding eye injuries and loss of sight. Please note that these figures are not guarantees, they are only guidelines.
| Injury | Severity of Injury | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries And Special Damages | Serious | Up to £500,000+ |
| Total Blindness | Complete and permanent loss of sight in both eyes. | In the region of £327,940 |
| Loss of Sight in One Eye with Reduced Vision in the Remaining Eye | (i) Risk of further deterioration | £117,150 to £219,400 |
| Loss of Sight in One Eye with Reduced Vision in the Remaining Eye | (ii) Includes cases of double vision | £78,040 to £129,330 |
| Total Loss of One Eye | Payout depends on age, psychiatric effect and cosmetic impact | £66,920 to £80,210 |
| Complete Loss of Sight in One Eye | (e) Scarring in the eye with risk of sympathetic ophthalmia | £60,130 to £66,920 |
| Complete Loss of Sight in One Eye | (f) Serious but incomplete loss of vision | £28,900 to £48,040 |
| Complete Loss of Sight in One Eye | (g) Minor but permanent impairment of vision | £11,120 to £25,600 |
| Minor Eye Injuries | Initial pain and some interference to vision, which will eventually heal. | £4,820 to £10,660 |
| Transient Eye Injuries | Vision troubles which will likely heal within a week. | £2,690 to £4,820 |
The second head of claim, special damages, addresses the financial losses caused by your injuries. For example, if you lose your sight and are unable to drive to work, then you may need to pay for bus tickets or taxi fares. In this case, these expenses could be covered by special damages.
- Care costs – in some cases, health issues can mean that you need to hire assistance. Paying for a nurse or a carer can be expensive and this is a cost that can be recovered during the compensation process.
- Loss of earnings – with vision being so important in so many jobs, health issues affecting your ability to see can massively damage your earning potential. If you have had to take time off work or if you have found that your future ability to earn has been damaged by an optician’s negligence, you can claim to have these losses covered.
- Travel Expenses – frequent trips to medical appointments can be costly, so you may be able to cover the expenses of necessary travel, such as train fares.
- Medical Expenses – for equipment, medicine, and specialist care that isn’t available for free on the NHS.
It’s important to note that you need to provide evidence of these losses in order to claim them back, such as receipts
Contact our team of advisors today for more information on how to make a claim for optician negligence.
How To Begin An Optician Negligence Claim
When you receive treatment from a professional, such as an optician, they automatically owe you a duty of care. This duty requires the optician to provide a service of skill and care, that of any competent optician.
You may be eligible to start an optician negligence compensation claim if you can establish the following:
- An optician owed you a duty of care. This is the case if you are under the care of an optician.
- This duty was breached because the optician failed to deliver the correct standard of care.
- You experienced unnecessary harm as a consequence of this breach in the duty of care owed to you.
If you contact our team today, they can advise you about your potential optician negligence claim and whether you have a valid case. Get in touch with us online or by calling to learn more.
How Long Do I Have To Make An Optician Negligence Claim?
You may be wondering how long you have to claim compensation for negligence. Claims for optician negligence must typically be started within three years from the date the negligence took place. Alternatively, you will have three years to start your claim from the date of knowledge. This is the date you realised that the harm you suffered was caused by an optician breaching their duty of care. This time limit is set out in the Limitation Act 1980.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The time limit is paused for claimants under the age of eighteen. While the time limit is paused, a court-appointed litigation friend could make the claim on their behalf. From their 18th birthday, they will have 3 years to start their claim if one has not already been made.
The time limit is suspended for claimants that lack the mental capacity to claim for themselves. Again, a litigation friend could make a claim on their behalf. In the event that they were to regain this mental capacity, they will have three years to start their claim from this date if one has not already been made.
Contact our advisors today to discuss your potential optician negligence claim and receive free advice.
What Different Reasons Are There For Making An Optician Negligence Claim?
Next, let’s look at some reasons that you may want to make optician negligence claims.
Listing every potential act of negligence committed by an optician can be difficult. Though it might seem a limited field, in terms of potential health issues, there are various ways in which an optician might be negligent. These can include (but are not limited to):
- Misdiagnosis – There are incidences in which the optician will prescribe the wrong kind of treatment, having misidentified the condition of the patient. This can have serious health implications.
- Overlooking a severe eye condition – Building on misdiagnosis, the failure to diagnose a serious eye condition in an appointment – one which may grow worse over time – can be a sign of negligence.
- Failure to carry out a laser eye surgery successfully – With the complex nature of laser eye surgery, making a mistake can be costly. These mistakes can happen either during the procedure or might involve a flawed recommendation from your optician.
- Postponing further treatment – a delay or postponement in treatment can be harmful and, if it was recommended by your optician, this can be seen as a form of negligence.
Though errors or accidents are not impossible, acts of negligence such as those listed above can have serious implications for your vision and general eye health.
The Bolam Test
For certain medical negligence claims, there is something called the Bolam test that can help clarify whether something can be considered negligent or otherwise. There could be more than one possible avenue for treatment, including in the field of optometry.
Choosing one treatment over another could result in adverse health conditions in some patients. However, if enough medical professionals in a similar field agree that they would also have considered the selected treatment viable at the time, it becomes less likely that a medical negligence claim would be successful.
What To Do If You Have Been A Victim Of Optician Negligence?
Are you wondering how to make optician negligence claims?
Once you realise that you may have been a victim of optician negligence, there are a number of steps that you can take in order to better prepare for a compensation claim. We recommend the following:
- You should document and detail all interactions with the optician which you experienced. This can be everything from a prescription to a telephone record. While not all of it might be useful, having as much evidence as possible can be hugely helpful. The more high-quality evidence you have to present, the more likely your claim is to succeed.
- If you are experiencing any pain as a result of this incident, you should visit a doctor. They can provide medical advice on how to resolve your issue and a doctor’s note or medical report can be used as part of building the case.
- You may wish to seek a second opinion from another optician. If you believe the original optician may have acted negligently, you can seek the care and assistance of a second and resolve any ongoing vision issues.
- Reach out to a law firm. Building a medical or optician negligence case can be incredibly complex. This is why we advise people that legal aid can help deal with the issue in a much more efficient manner.
If you choose to seek legal assistance, then the following steps in the claims process can be much easier. We will discuss this in the next section.
NHS Optician Negligence Compensation Claims
In making optician negligence claims, you might find yourself filing a complaint or making a claim against the NHS (National Health Service). This means that you will be claiming against the public healthcare body, rather than a private organisation or individual, which can make matters slightly different. For example, the NHS complaints procedure is a separate entity to the legal claims process and is designed to ensure that:
- Complaints are handled efficiently.
- All complaints are investigated.
- The individual who makes the complaint is treated with respect.
- The individual is informed of the ongoing investigation.
However, it is possible to have an open NHS complaint and an ongoing compensation claim at the same time. If you have already launched a complaint, you do not need to wait until it has been resolved until you seek legal advice or assistance.
No Win No Fee Optician Negligence Claims
Our advisors can discuss your potential optician negligence claim with you and if they determine you have a valid case, they could connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
Our solicitors can support medical negligence claims under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Such an agreement means you won’t need to pay your solicitor for their services before your claim for optician negligence has started or while it’s being processed. Also, you usually won’t be required to pay your solicitor for their work if the case fails.
If your No Win No Fee claim is successful, then your solicitor will take what’s often called a success fee. This refers to a small, legally capped percentage of the compensation awarded for your case that your solicitor subtracts to cover their payment. The legal cap applied to success fees ensures that you get to keep most of your optician negligence compensation.
Get in touch with our advisors for free today to learn more about claiming for medical negligence with a No Win No Fee solicitor. Our team can answer any other questions you have regarding other steps of the claims process. You can get in touch with our team by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8804.
- Messaging us with our 24/7 live chat support.
- Or by writing to our team with our claim online form.
Other Helpful Links
We’ve also included some links to other material you may find useful.
- How much you could claim for eye injuries in other settings
- What to do if you’ve been given the wrong medication
- A general guide to personal injury claims
- Symptoms of other eye injuries from the NHS
- How to get in touch with the General Optical Council
- Information on litigation friends – an adult who can pursue a claim on behalf of someone else
If you still have any questions about optician negligence claims, you can contact Legal Expert today to speak to one of our advisors. You can reach us by using contact details included within this guide.
