SpecSavers - Eye Image - Can not provide an external copy

bigbadpat

I have been going to Specsavers for over 20 years.

A number of years ago (could be six or more) they got an imaging system for taking an photo image of your eye.
This turned up a freckle at the back of one of my eyes.
It appears on the photo as a bloody image covering around a quarter of my eye.
It does not interfere with my vision. The image has not changed over the past 6 years when you review the last 3 images from Specsavers.
During a recent eye test SpecSavers suggested that I should have it checked out by an eye expert and referred me to Optics in Fairview.
I attended there recently and they suggested that I should see an eye consultant in St Vincents and that it would help his assessment if I could bring a copy of the Specsavers images with me.
I went in to SpecSavers last Friday and after speaking to a member of the staff & the manager they said they are unable to give me a copy of the images as it is a stand-a-lone system. As a former Information Technology person I find this hard to believe (& accept).

Just wondering if anyone on here knows anything about the Specsavers eye imaging system, who are the manufacturers etc. or if you have encountered this problem before.

endacl

http://www.specsavers.ie/eye-health/retinal-photography

That's bollocks. As you can see from the webpage image, the device that takes the image is a standard dslr camera. The fancy machine simply acts as the lens. A digital out sends the image for display on a standard vdu.

The image can be saved and stored either on the sd card in the camera itself, or on the hard drive of whatever computer they use to view the image. They could provide a copy from either location.

The reason they won't provide an image is the same reason they won't provide a copy of your prescription. They don't want your business going elsewhere. Although in this instance, their policy is utter nonsense.

Daisies

I know, for example, in the Specsavers I worked in, the camera was not connected to the main system and could not be sent via email as there was not facilities to do so. However if there was a request we could have emailed it by transferring to the one laptop that had the facility for email (trust me when I say, the Specsavers computers are not built to do anything but run their own programme). Most places won't put it onto a USB in case of viruses etc and from experience, emailing to a consultant prior to a patient's appointment would likely end up with the email being forgotten about before the appointment.

On the business side of things, the photo to an ophthalmologist would have nothing to do with that as opthalmologists will, for the most part, refer back to the original place should any need for glasses be seen.

bigbadpat

Meant to post earlier that this got sorted in about 3/4 weeks after my previous post thanks to the Manager of the main Dublin store in the GPO Arcade who provided me with the images on a memory stick. They can now provide this for anyone who is referred to a consultant. Thanks Specsavers.