Poor quality contact lens check? Or do I keep waiting?

I've worn toric contact lenses (CL) for around 18 years now without a problem. Up until a year ago, I was with Tesco Opticians, which have now been taken over by Vision Express (VE). Under Tesco I never had any concerns, and orders were always in quickly. My first VE order after the takeover took 3 months to arrive.

So... I recently had a sight test at another branch (as I was working away), and was told my eyesight had worsened. New glasses... massive improvement. Left eye Cyl has changed by -0.50, and right eye by -1.25. No complaints.

Now, back home, having waited over a month for the first available CL check appointment at my local VE store. It's an optician I've never seen before, but who instantly gets flustered spending the first 15 mins of the appointment searching disorganised boxed of trial lens orders for some trial lenses ordered in. That seemed strange to start with, since I had mentioned I thought a prescription change in the lenses was needed, so ordering in a different brand of lenses at the same spec seemed pointless...

Anyway, no sign of the trial lenses. A quick check (look ahead, look up, look left, look right, blink) on each eye, and I'm asked to read the lowest line on the screen, one eye at a time. Left eye not amazing, right eye worse. This kind of makes sense, given the glasses prescription.

He offers a pair of lenses in front and asks me to look down at a card. It's slightly clearer with. "That's excellent" he exclaims. "There's been a +0.5 improvement in both eyes. It's what we're aiming for." No further tests with lens options, no reading of the screen again. And for the first time ever, no taking out my contact lenses for a check of the health of the surface of my eye.

I question the fact that the numbers from the sight test and CL check seem to contradict each other. As I'm lead out back out, he explains that the contact lenses are closer to my eyes, so need a weaker prescription. That's always been the case (CL prescription has always been weaker than my glasses), but why on earth would they start going in opposite directions??!

I now have another month wait for the next available CL check, for a fit of some trial lenses that are now a weaker prescription than I currently wear. I'm noticing I'm struggling wearing my old CL prescription, but the whole appointment felt very disorganised and a cursory look at how healthy my eyes are. I've no concerns, but know that CL suppliers are really keen on you having your eyes checked annually if you wear lenses.

Have the recommended checks on contact lenses been relaxed since Dec 2017? Or have I just ended up with an optometrist who was in a rush to get home that evening? I'm not claiming to understand the numbers, but I've never know my prescriptions to start changing in opposite directions. I've no chance of a second opinion any time soon at that store (their appointment availability is ridiculous), but I live on the Isle of Wight, so there's not a huge choice of branches without getting a ferry!?

Sorry for the long post...

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