Vision screening of 4 to 5 year olds at school entry

The request was partially successful.

The College of Optometrists

Dear FOI officer

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.

There is a national recommendation, by the UK National Screening committee, to offer orthoptic-led vision screening to children at aged 4-5 years, mainly to ensure that amblyopia (reduced vision), is detected and treated at an age where treatment has the potential to improve vision.

Public Health England introduced service specifications for a Vision Screening Service in 2017. We are concerned that a Vision Screening service is currently not being offered to all children aged 4-5 years in England leading to inequality of eye health care provision.

We are aware that the responsibility for commissioning 0 - 5 year children’s public health services has transferred from the NHS to Local Authorities; and that in addition there are to be significant cuts to Local Authority Public Health funding which may affect these services

We would be grateful if you could answer the following questions (for the financial year 2019/2020) to determine the arrangements made by your local authority to commission vision screening for your eligible resident population and it’s quality assurance.

We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Olivier Denève
Secretary to the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning

Questions

1. Do you currently commission vision screening in school of children aged 4-5 years old? Y / N

If YES, would you please:

2. List the key features of your 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 (QA) processes (audit) and identified clinical lead for the vision screening service

3. Tell us how you monitor if every child in your Local Authority has been tested (including those in private schools or those who are home-schooled).

4. Tell us whether the programme will be commissioned again in the next financial year

5. If NO- you do not currently commission a vision screening service in your area, would you please tell us :

a. why you do not commission vision screening?
b. whether a service is planned for the next financial year (2020/21)?
c. whether an existing service in your area has been recently decommissioned?

Darlington Borough Council

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Dear Olivier 

 

Thank you for your request for information, received 21st June 2019. 

 

We are processing your request in accordance with our Freedom of
Information and Environmental Information Request Procedure, which you can
find on our [2]website.

 

If we need more information in order to process your request, we will
contact you in due course.

 

You can expect a full response to your request within 20 working days.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Rachel O'Leary

Complaints & Information Governance Assistant

(01325) 406777

 

 

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2. https://www.darlington.gov.uk/your-counc...

Darlington Borough Council

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Dear Olivier 

 

Request reference: DBC-1062-19

Please find attached the Council's response to your recent request for
information. Please accept my apologies for the delay in response to your
request. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Rachel Seddon

Complaints & Information Governance Assistant

(01325) 406777

 

 

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