Opticians and dentists that do home visits.

Archeron

Hi all,
Just wondering if anybody may have experience of dentists and opticians that can do house calls.
My mum needs to see an optician (badly) and also needs new false teeth. The problem is that she lives in medical accomodation and she doesnt have easy access to get out to have her eyes tested. I have rang a couple of opticians around the local area, but they told me that they dont do visits.
She is kind of stuck now, because she does need glasses and is getting really bad headaches at the moment.
If anyone has advice on where to turn to find such a service, I'd be very grateful. She is based in Meath.

Many thanks

Amz

If you contact the NCBI's low vision clinic at PV Doyle house they may be able to help you, or if you contact the NCBI in Meath they may know of someone who can assist you. Only thing I could suggest as regards dentists is contacting the HSE about it.

RainyDay

I'd have thought that the amount of specialist equipment used by these individuals would rule out home visits?

Archeron

RainyDay wrote: »

I'd have thought that the amount of specialist equipment used by these individuals would rule out home visits?

Me too, which is why I'm not feeling too positive about it. On the other hand though, what does happen to people who are homebound and need such treatments?

Thanks Amz for that comment too, I'll try the HSE again and see what they say, and will be on to the other contact first thing Monday. Cheers

RainyDay

Archeron wrote: »

Me too, which is why I'm not feeling too positive about it. On the other hand though, what does happen to people who are homebound and need such treatments?

Presumably, the same happens as if they require other medical treatments such as xrays or MRIs etc. The patient travels by ambulance or taxi to the clinic?

[Note that I'm speaking theoretically here, not from first-hand experience, so I'm wide open to correction]

_Whimsical_

Archeron wrote: »

Me too, which is why I'm not feeling too positive about it. On the other hand though, what does happen to people who are homebound and need such treatments?
Cheers

Sorry to hear your mum is in such a tough situation.

I can only comment on the provision of dental care at home. I knew someone who was very ill a few years ago and a dentist did call to her house and removed a tooth for her. Like yourself, her family were put in a position of randomly ringing around asking for someone to do a home visit but they got one eventually. He did it just because he was a nice guy.

If you end up in a situation where you have to ring up like that you're probably best to ask to speak to or leave a message for a senior dentist in the pracitse. They're probably more confindent when it comes to doing something less conventional.

It should be possible with an optician too. Optometry was carried out for many years with a box of lenses and a chart before they had specialised machinery.

Maybe you could ask in the related fora here on boards too. You might find someone there has advice.