Vision screening of 4 to 5 year olds at school entry

The request was successful.

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

MEHT FOI (RQ8) Mid Essex Hospital, Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust

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contact [1][Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust request email] with any queries.

With kind regards
Rebecca Pascoe Youell
Public Information Manager

 

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MEHT FOI (RQ8) Mid Essex Hospital, Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust

Good morning / afternoon

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Please find our response attached / beneath.

Questions
1. How many LA and CCGs are served by your organisation for all acute, community and specialist services?
Please list them all.
Mid Essex CCG
We also receive referrals from all other CCGs in Essex and some from Hertfordshire

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

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 Yes

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? LA commission vision screening in schools, CCGs commission the services that children are referred to for orthoptic treatment. The LA (Essex County Council) commission Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service
Service provided by: Virgin Care in Partnership with Barnardos to deliver vision screening. Our Orthoptists provide training to Virgin Care staff.

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 The training is compliant but information in other areas of the quality assurance processes would have to be confirmed by Virgin Care
ii. Not compliant

4. List the key features of each commissioned screening service :
a. Settings (e.g. school). School
b. Screening personnel (e.g. orthoptist, school nurse or other health professional). School nurses and school nurse assistants (healthy family support workers)
c. The onward care pathway for children who fail the vision screening. Either directly into community services provided by the HES or via a children’s vision diagnostic service delivered by accredited Optometrists
d. The quality assurance processes (audit) and identified clinical lead for the vision screening service. Thea Roper at Virgin Care, Linda Melvin and Linda Kelly at Mid Essex Hospital (now part of Mid and South Essex University Hospital Group)

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). This is not currently monitored as it is not commissioned by the local authority but this is being discussed with commissioners

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

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?

If you are not satisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review by a senior member of the Trust staff who has had no involvement in dealing with your request. We aim to deal with FOI appeals within 20 days of receipt. Emails should be clearly marked ‘Internal Review ' and sent to [email address] Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner. Further information is available at: Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK95AF Telephone: 01625 545 700 - www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

If you have any other queries please do not hesitate to contact me again.
Kind regards
Rebecca Pascoe | Public Information Manager | Corporate
Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Group
South Wing – Level 3 – Room R42 – B346
Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 7ET
Tel: 01245 524900 ext 4536
[email address]

-----Original Message-----
From: Jignasa Mehta [mailto:[FOI #582569 email]]
Sent: 11 June 2019 22:26
To: MEHT FOI (RQ8) Mid Essex Hospital
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Vision screening of 4 to 5 year olds at school entry

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

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Information in this message may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies; please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Content of emails received by this Trust will be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed. Thank you for your co-operation.

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