Free · Today · Heald Green, Gatley, Wythenshawe, Sale
Urgent eye care in Heald Green: today, free, and properly looked at
Wythenshawe A&E is minutes away and full of people with sore eyes who did not need to be there. Ring Finney Lane instead. An optometrist sees you today, for nothing with a local GP, patient or not, and if it genuinely needs the eye hospital we make the call and send the scans while you are here.
Come here first
Sore eye? Come to Ashworth Opticians today, for free.
Heald Green, Gatley, Wythenshawe, Northenden, Sale, Altrincham, Handforth, Styal: wherever you are, come here first. We look at the eye properly today, and if it needs a specialist, we refer you on and fast-track it ourselves.
Rung the GP?
Come here instead. We have the eye microscope, the pressure check and the retinal scanner the surgery doesn’t, and we see you today, not next week. We’ll write to your GP afterwards.
Thinking about A&E?
Come here first. Twenty minutes with an optometrist on Finney Lane beats hours at Wythenshawe, and we have the equipment to find what’s wrong. If it needs the eye hospital, we ring Manchester Royal Eye Hospital while you’re in the chair, send your scans ahead, and you go in fast-tracked, not to the back of the queue.
Never been to Ashworth?
Doesn’t matter. Anyone nearby with an urgent eye problem is seen today, free with a local GP. No referral, no forms, no charge. Ring, and you’re booked in.
Which one sounds like yours?
Ring for any of them. All are seen today.
“Red, gritty and watering since yesterday.”
Most often conjunctivitis, a scratched surface, an inflamed lid or a dry eye flare. Looked at under the microscope and, in most cases, treated in the chair.
“New floaters, or flashes in the corner.”
Ring today even if they have faded. Usually harmless changes in the gel inside the eye, occasionally a tear in the retina. The back of the eye is photographed and scanned, and you are told which.
“My vision has suddenly blurred in one eye.”
Ring now. Seen the same day, every time. If it fell like a curtain, go to A&E and ring us on the way.
“I have got something in my eye.”
Do not rub. Rinse with clean water, then ring. What a mirror cannot show, the microscope can, and it can be removed here.
“A painful lump on my eyelid.”
A stye or a blocked gland, usually. Treated here. Hot, swollen and spreading, especially with a temperature: seen today.
“I fly a lot and my eye is red and sore after a flight.”
Dry cabin air and a lens left in too long are a common pair near the airport. Lens out, ring, and it is looked at properly today.
Free. Same-day appointments at Ashworth Opticians, 214 Finney Lane.
The exceptions
Go straight to Wythenshawe A&E, without ringing, if
A blow or a cut
A blow to the eye and you cannot see properly, or a cut to the eye itself.
Chemicals
Chemical in the eye: rinse with water for fifteen minutes first, then go.
A curtain
Sudden loss of vision in one eye, like a curtain coming down.
Severe pain with nausea
A very painful eye with nausea or a headache, especially with haloes around lights.
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital on Oxford Road is the dedicated eye casualty for the city. Everything else: ring Finney Lane, today.
Getting here
214 Finney Lane, Heald Green
From Gatley and Cheadle
Five minutes. Street parking on Finney Lane; Heald Green station is a short walk.
From Wythenshawe and Northenden
Five to ten minutes along Styal Road or the A560.
From Sale and Altrincham
Fifteen minutes on the M56 or the A560. Buses along Finney Lane stop nearby.
Five practices, one family
Ashworth Opticians: an independent family practice, not a chain
Ashworth has looked after Heald Green for decades, and it is run the way we would want our own family looked after: unhurried, honest, and by people who know your name. It is one of five independent practices with the same training and the same rule for urgent eyes: today, and free.
- IndependentFamily owned since 2017. No head office, no targets on the desk.
- LocalRooted in each town, with the same faces every visit.
- World-classHospital-grade imaging, and optometrists trained beyond the standard test.
- PersonalForty-five minutes, explained plainly, and time to talk.
Today
Call Ashworth Opticians, Heald Green
If you don’t get through to anyone, leave your number below and we’ll call you back as soon as we can. Or book the urgent slot online and we’ll see you today.
214 Finney Lane, Heald Green SK8 3QA · Street parking on Finney Lane · Monday to Friday 9:00am – 5:30pm · Saturday and Sunday closed
Frequently asked questions
Wythenshawe Hospital is round the corner. Why come to you?
Because a sore eye at A&E waits hours to be seen by someone without a slit-lamp microscope, and an optometrist sees you today with one. Wythenshawe is right for a blow to the eye, chemicals or sudden loss of sight. For the rest, ring Finney Lane.
What does it cost?
Nothing, with a GP in the area, through the NHS urgent eye care scheme. Not registered locally? We still see you today; the appointment is then £60.
Do I need to be an Ashworth patient?
No. Anyone from Heald Green, Gatley, Wythenshawe, Sale, Altrincham or Northenden with an urgent eye problem is seen today.
If it needs a specialist, where do I go?
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital on Oxford Road, which has a dedicated eye casualty. We ring them and send your photographs and scans so you arrive as a referred patient.