In a public statement, the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) has found that three optometrists employed by Specsavers Silverdale on Auckland’s North Shore over five years failed to provide an appropriate standard of care for a female glaucoma patient.

“The woman, ‘Ms A’, had visited Specsavers Silverdale a number of times between 2014 and 2019, complaining of various symptoms in her left eye,” reported the HDC. “In 2019, she was diagnosed with bilateral subacute angle closure glaucoma by another provider, and the ophthalmologist who diagnosed her noted that she had been symptomatic for perhaps as long as five years.” The ophthalmologist urgently referred Ms A to hospital where she underwent laser treatments to both eyes.

  Health and disability commissioner Morag McDowell

In the report, Ms A, who was aged in her 30s, said she told the optometrists repeatedly she was experiencing flashing lights, foggy vision, headaches and at times had lost her vision, but was told her vision was normal and was given a new spectacle prescription. Commissioner Morag McDowell said the optometrists involved variously failed to: carry out a comprehensive assessment, which should have included gonioscopy; document her assessment properly; explore the woman’s history fully; and investigate eye pressure variations. She recommended written apologies and a review of the optometrists’ competence by the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board. Since the complaint, Specsavers has introduced new guidelines for clinical record-keeping, random clinical record audits and more gonioscopy training.

www.hdc.org.nz/decisions/search-decisions/2022/19hdc01129/