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City University sight expert says no to government recommendations for children`s eyesight

October 02, 2002

Children's eyesight could be seriously damaged if the recommendations of a report due to be published later this year are implemented, warns an eyesight expert at City University, London

The fourth edition of the `Health for all Children` document, drawn up by the UK National Screening Committee, which advises government on all aspects of screening policy, is due to be published later this year. The current draft recommends:

 Pre-school screening should be replaced by a screening on school entry, preferably by an orthoptist
 All other vision screening in primary schools should stop
 Screening should only continue in secondary schools where this is current practice

Dr Dave Thomson, senior Optometry lecturer at City, said:

"These recommendations are ill-conceived and unworkable. Our research has shown that nearly one in five children have problems with their eyes. The proposal that screening should only be carried out in secondary schools if it is done at the moment will lead to a postcode lottery - how can this be equitable?"

He is concerned about the committee's report and is calling for parents, eye-care professionals and professional bodies to resist the proposals before they are set in stone:

"At a time when great emphasis is being placed on the importance of prevention and health surveillance, it seems extraordinary that one of the bastions of preventative eye care is to be removed without any evidence that it is safe to do so."

He agrees that children should be screened on school entry but believes tests should be repeated at age seven and at secondary school entry. He has seen unscreened children classed as special needs when all they needed was an eye-test.

The Schools Vision Screener, developed by City's Department of Optometry and Visual Science is a simple computer programme that can be operated by a classroom assistant or parent. In less than three minutes, it can identify children with eye problems at a cost of less than £1 per child. One inner London study showed one in five children aged five to eight years had some form of eye problem, with under one third of those children under professional care.

The system has been tested on 3,000 school children between the ages of five and eight from schools in Islington, East Grinstead, Hemel Hempstead and Brixton. The Schools Vision Screener is currently in use in 200 schools across the UK, New Zealand and Australia.

"We make a huge investment in educating our children. Isn't it worth spending three minutes per child to check they can see properly?" said Dr Thomson.

City University

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