Table 3 Denial, fear and costs

Denial

1. “A lot of people have the attitude that ‘there’s nothing wrong with my sight, the print is getting smaller!” [FG2]

2. “I thought I would just leave it, leave it, you know. Keep leaving it and see what happens….” [FG3]

3. “There’s many people who do not want to know”

“I come from a family of people who don’t want to know”

“That’s actually silly”

“I know it is. I can’t convince them”. [FG5]

Fear

4. “I am dead scared of even having my cataracts done…because my husband lost his sight. That scares me.[FG3]

5. “..it’s a little bit of the fear of the unknown, because…the idea that somebody is messing about with your eyes, it’s really frightening”. [FG3]

6. “I think it’s sometimes fear of going blind that makes one go and check on your eyes. My mother and grandfather went blind, so it does make you a bit nervous”.

“And that works the other way sometimes with some people. They don’t want to go”. [FG5]

Costs

7. “you made an interesting statement … that the services were free. It cost me £300 the last time I was there!” [FG1]

8. “Costs so much I go alternate years”