Wiltshire opticians offering free eye care to Salisbury's homeless
Haine and Smith are working with city charity Alabaré
Free eye tests and glasses will be available for homeless people to access in Salisbury today (Friday 24th June).
Opticians Haine & Smith and local charity Alabaré have teamed up to give those less fortunate a chance to get their sight tested.
They'll also be given some glasses if they are required.
Anna Lewin is one of the optometrists behind the project and believes it is a vital service:
"Something that can seem very simple to us, (homeless people) still struggle to access that. Even if it's something that's available on the NHS, it can be a challenge to access that if you're homeless and without a fixed address. You might think those services should be available to everybody in this country."
The team from Haine and Smith, who have branches in Amesbury and Pewsey, as well as across Wiltshire and Oxfordshire, will be supporting people at Alabaré's site in Barnard Street throughout the day.
Optometrist Anna Lewin says this service has previously proven to be very successful in other locations:
"In the first visit that we did in Chippenham, all bar one needed glasses there; in Trowbridge, I think three quarters of the patients had glasses. It's difficult for them to access eye care and actually taking the eye care to them makes a really big difference."
The opticians have been supporting Alabaré for a while, choosing them as their charity of the year in 2021.