Vision screening of 4 to 5 year olds at school entry

Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust did not have the information requested.

Dear Head of Orthoptic Service,

The British and Irish Orthoptic Society on behalf of the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning are writing to make an open request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The purpose of this FOI request is to establish the provision of ‘orthoptic-led’ and/or ‘non-orthoptic-led’ vision screening across England.

Definition of ‘Orthoptic-led’:
A service that is led by a designated Orthoptist who is responsible for all aspects of delivery of vision screening to all eligible children. This includes leadership of the personnel delivering the screening, the care pathway and audit and quality assurance mechanisms. The testing of children may be either Orthoptist delivered or delivered by a vision screener trained by an orthoptist.

We would be grateful if you could please answer the following questions and their subsections (where applicable) for the financial year 2019/20 to allow us to establish current provision and support orthoptists in the future to deliver an ‘orthoptic led’ service.
Many thanks for providing this information, it will be extremely useful to support the objective of delivering equitable orthoptic led vision screening for ALL 4-5 year old children by mapping out current provision. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact [[email address]]. We look forward to hearing from you.

Questions
1. How many LA and CCGs are served by your organisation for all acute, community and specialist services?
Please list them all.

2. Does your organisation provide the Orthoptic Services for the resident populations of these LAs and CCGs? Y/N

3. Is a vision screening service currently available in the area (by LA or CCG) served by your organisation for providing Orthoptic Services? Y / N
If NO - please list the LA/CCG that do not provide a vision screening service
If YES – For each commissioned screening service please indicate:
a. Who commissions it - LA or CCG?
b. Its compliance with the PHE service specifications i.e. Orthoptic-led and delivered with Quality Assurance and clinical audit processes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...)
i. Compliant
ii. Not compliant

4. List the key features of each commissioned screening service :
a. Settings (e.g. school).
b. Screening personnel (e.g. orthoptist, school nurse or other health professional).
c. The onward care pathway for children who fail the vision screening.
d. The quality assurance processes (audit) and identified clinical lead for the vision screening service.

5. Tell us how you monitor if every eligible child in the Local Authority or CCG commissioning the service has been tested (including those in private schools, or those who are home schooled).

6. Tell us whether a vision screening programme has been commissioned for the current financial year

7. If a vision screening service is not currently available, in a Local Authority or CCG served by your Organisation could you please tell us for each of these LA or CCGs –
a. why it has not been commissioned?
b. whether a service is planned for the next financial year (2020/21)?
c. whether an existing service has been recently decommissioned?

Yours faithfully,
Veronica Greenwood
Chair of British and Irish Orthoptic Society
Parul Desai
Chair of Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning

Freedom Of Information, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Dear Ms Greenwood,

Freedom of Information Request (FOI 131-1920 )

Thank you for your request dated 11 June 2019. I can confirm that your request is being processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and that you will receive a written response within 20 working days from receipt of your request.

Kind Regards

Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Freedom of Information Team

show quoted sections

Freedom Of Information, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Greenwood ,

Thank you for your request dated 11 June 2019 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Under section 1 (1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I can confirm that Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (YDH) holds the requested information, and (b), is supplying it attached to this email.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may appeal to Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to complain about how your request has been handled. Your next course of action is to request the Information Commissioners Office to review our decision. Contact information is available on their website or you can write to them at: FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution, Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Should you have any queries or require clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Freedom of Information Team

Dear Head of Orthoptic Service,

The British and Irish Orthoptic Society on behalf of the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning are writing to make an open request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The purpose of this FOI request is to establish the provision of ‘orthoptic-led’ and/or ‘non-orthoptic-led’ vision screening across England.

Definition of ‘Orthoptic-led’:
A service that is led by a designated Orthoptist who is responsible for all aspects of delivery of vision screening to all eligible children. This includes leadership of the personnel delivering the screening, the care pathway and audit and quality assurance mechanisms. The testing of children may be either Orthoptist delivered or delivered by a vision screener trained by an orthoptist.

We would be grateful if you could please answer the following questions and their subsections (where applicable) for the financial year 2019/20 to allow us to establish current provision and support orthoptists in the future to deliver an ‘orthoptic led’ service.
Many thanks for providing this information, it will be extremely useful to support the objective of delivering equitable orthoptic led vision screening for ALL 4-5 year old children by mapping out current provision. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact [[email address]]. We look forward to hearing from you.

Questions
1. How many LA and CCGs are served by your organisation for all acute, community and specialist services?
Please list them all.

2. Does your organisation provide the Orthoptic Services for the resident populations of these LAs and CCGs? Y/N

3. Is a vision screening service currently available in the area (by LA or CCG) served by your organisation for providing Orthoptic Services? Y / N If NO - please list the LA/CCG that do not provide a vision screening service If YES – For each commissioned screening service please indicate:
a. Who commissions it - LA or CCG?
b. Its compliance with the PHE service specifications i.e. Orthoptic-led and delivered with Quality Assurance and clinical audit processes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...)
i. Compliant
ii. Not compliant

4. List the key features of each commissioned screening service :
a. Settings (e.g. school).
b. Screening personnel (e.g. orthoptist, school nurse or other health professional).
c. The onward care pathway for children who fail the vision screening.
d. The quality assurance processes (audit) and identified clinical lead for the vision screening service.

5. Tell us how you monitor if every eligible child in the Local Authority or CCG commissioning the service has been tested (including those in private schools, or those who are home schooled).

6. Tell us whether a vision screening programme has been commissioned for the current financial year

7. If a vision screening service is not currently available, in a Local Authority or CCG served by your Organisation could you please tell us for each of these LA or CCGs – a. why it has not been commissioned?
b. whether a service is planned for the next financial year (2020/21)?
c. whether an existing service has been recently decommissioned?

Yours faithfully,
Veronica Greenwood
Chair of British and Irish Orthoptic Society Parul Desai Chair of Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #582634 email]

Is [Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom Of Information,
Many thanks for sending but could you please resend as the PDF failed to load on a number of occasions.

Yours sincerely,

Jignasa Mehta

Freedom Of Information, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Good morning

 

Thank you for your email dated 11 July 2019.  Please find re-attached our
response, if you continue to experience issues in opening this document,
please do contact us.

 

Kind Regards

 

Freedom of Information Team

Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

 

show quoted sections