Booking Your First Mobile Optometrist Visit: What to Expect
TL;DR
A first mobile optometrist appointment with Eye See You runs in four stages: (1) a five-minute booking phone call, (2) a confirmation message with a two-hour arrival window, (3) a 30–45-minute on-site comprehensive examination, and (4) glasses delivered 2–3 weeks later. The examination is bulk-billed to Medicare for eligible patients. This article walks you through each stage so you know exactly what to expect.
On this page
Step 1 — Booking the visit
Call 0490 090 713 or book online. The initial conversation takes about five minutes and covers:
If you live in our standard coverage area — Greater Brisbane, Sydney, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle and regional QLD / NSW — there is no callout fee. The booking is confirmed by SMS within an hour.
Step 2 — Preparing at home
The day before your appointment, please prepare:
If your appointment is in a residential aged-care facility, the facility's registered nurse on duty will already have prepared the resident's medication chart, care plan, and consent paperwork.
Step 3 — The examination itself
The examination runs for 30–45 minutes per patient. Here is what happens, in order:
1. History (5 minutes) — the optometrist talks through your vision concerns, general health and medications.
2. Visual acuity (5 minutes) — reading a logMAR or Snellen chart at three metres and 40 centimetres, with and without your current glasses.
3. Autorefraction (2 minutes) — a portable instrument gives a starting prescription estimate.
4. Subjective refraction (10 minutes) — the "which is clearer, one or two?" part. Conducted with a trial frame, which is easier for elderly patients than a wall-mounted phoropter.
5. Eye-pressure measurement (2 minutes) — a small handheld tonometer measures intraocular pressure.
6. Slit-lamp examination (5 minutes) — magnified, illuminated view of the front of each eye.
7. Retinal photography (3 minutes) — high-resolution images of the optic nerve, macula and retina.
8. Discussion and recommendations (5–10 minutes) — explanation of the findings, recommendation for new glasses if needed, referral to ophthalmology if surgical assessment is indicated, and answers to your questions.
For residents with dementia or significant cognitive impairment, the optometrist adapts the workflow: shorter encounters, more visual demonstrations, family member or care staff member present, and use of objective measures (autorefraction, retinal photography) where subjective responses are unreliable. For more detail on this adaptation, read Sundowning and vision: what care staff need to know.
Step 4 — Choosing glasses
If you need new glasses, the optometrist brings a portable frame range to the appointment. You can try frames on right there, in your own lighting, and the optometrist measures the pupillary distance and frame fit before placing the order.
Frame selection takes 10–15 minutes. For aged care residents, the most popular choice is a lightweight, sturdy reading frame supplied as two pairs (one daily, one spare) because of the high rate of spectacle loss in aged care.
You are not under any obligation to order glasses at the appointment. You can take the prescription elsewhere if you prefer.
Step 5 — Receiving your glasses and follow-up
Glasses typically arrive 2–3 weeks after the appointment. The optometrist (or a member of the team) returns to your address for a fitting visit:
If a clinical follow-up is needed — for example to monitor a borderline intraocular pressure, or to recheck a refraction after cataract surgery — the optometrist books it during the original visit. For aged care optometrist rotations, follow-up is usually built into the next regular facility visit.
A written clinical report is sent to your GP (and your nominated representative or Power of Attorney) within 48 hours of the examination.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a mobile optometrist visit take?
A first comprehensive examination is 30–45 minutes per patient. Subsequent annual reviews are typically 25–35 minutes.
Do I need anyone with me during the appointment?
No, unless you would like someone present. For residents with cognitive impairment, we strongly recommend a family member or care staff member is present for consent and for the recommendations discussion.
What if I cannot read English?
We can run the examination using picture-based or symbol-based charts (Lea symbols, tumbling E). For Spanish, Mandarin and Vietnamese, we can also organise an interpreter on request.
Can I have the appointment in bed if I am unwell?
Yes. The optometrist comes to the bedside. Bed-bound examinations take about the same time and use the same equipment as a chairside examination.
How this guide connects to the rest of our content
Mobile optometry sits at the intersection of clinical eye care, aged care governance, and community health. The article above answers the immediate question, but most readers also need the wider picture — what the service looks like in practice, what it costs, where it runs, and how it interacts with the rest of the eye-care system. This short reference section makes those connections explicit so you can follow the trail that matters to your situation.
For families and individuals
If you are arranging eye care for an older parent or for yourself, the most useful next read is our pillar overview on what a mobile optometrist does, where we travel, and what Medicare covers. It walks through the appointment flow, glasses turnaround, and bedside delivery in a single page. From there, Booking your first mobile optometrist visit takes you through preparation step by step. If the recipient lives in a residential aged care home, the companion pillar — our aged care optometrist page — covers how facility-wide visits are scheduled and run.
For facility managers and clinical care coordinators
Facility teams usually need three things in one place: a procurement checklist, a clinical pathway, and accreditation evidence. The aged care optometrist visit checklist covers operational logistics — consent, medication interactions, room set-up, glasses inventory, and reporting. Our service hub on aged care optometry outlines clinical scope, reporting templates, reviewer credentials, and how the visit maps to the Aged Care Quality Standards. For an accreditation-cycle view, see our playbook on eye health for the aged care accreditation cycle, which is written for clinical governance audiences.
For GPs, ophthalmology rooms and community health teams
When the question is "optometry or ophthalmology?", our referrals decision guide outlines clinical scope, urgency criteria, and the shared-care pathways we use for residential aged care patients. It also covers what we report back after each visit, how we flag conditions that need urgent ophthalmology review, and how we coordinate when surgical follow-up is needed.
Related reading
For a wider walk-through of how at-home testing works across Australia, read our complete guide to in-home eye tests.
Where we travel
Eye See You Optometry runs scheduled mobile rounds across Queensland and New South Wales, including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Sydney and Newcastle, plus the regional centres in between. If your suburb is not listed, call us — most postcodes are covered by an existing route or can be added with two to three weeks of notice.
*Eye See You Optometry runs mobile optometry across Queensland and New South Wales for aged care residents, in-home patients and workplaces. Book your first visit online or call 0490 090 713.*