Children's Vision Supplement 2011 - Optometry Today

independent practice. It’s vital
that parents are made aware
that their child may have an
undetected vision problem
and that the only way to
ensure a child has the ability
to see to learn is by having an
in Optometry in Practice as a great
starting point for those who aren’t
sure of the equipment required to see
young children. It certainly doesn’t
have to cost a fortune and becoming
a practice which welcomes children is
a great business builder.
eye examination with their
community optometrist. In a
recent article in Optometry in
Practice, Dr Kathryn Saunders
said that the optometrist’s aim
should be: “That children are not
disadvantaged by poor vision
due to uncorrected refractive
error and, where necessary, that
they receive early and effective
treatment for binocular problems
and amblyopia.”
Our campaign to date has tried
to reach parents via schools and
teachers. This year’s campaign
will build on this to ensure our
message is still getting across. You
can help by communicating with your own
patients. Why not talk about the importance
of children’s eye care in your patient
newsletters and reminders? Ask patients
if their children or grandchildren currently
have regular eye examinations and, if not,
encourage them to bring their children in.
There are a number of resources available on
the AOP’s website, including a downloadable
poster and an information leaflet for parents.
We are in the process of redesigning this
year’s campaign poster, which will be
included in a resource pack to help you raise
awareness in your local area. See page 2 of
this guide for a sneak preview.
How you can get involved
Look at your own patients for interesting
cases. Ask parents if they would be
interested in helping our campaign by telling
the story of their own child’s experience at
the opticians for a local newspaper story,
or to add to our database of campaign
case histories. I have successfully enlisted
the help of many families in my own
practice who have been interviewed and
had photographs taken. Their personal
experience at the opticians – and how it
has made a difference to the child – makes
a great human interest story. In the past
few months alone, more than six local
papers have run stories of our child patients’
experiences at the opticians. We also secured
wider campaign media coverage, including
articles in The Guardian and The Observer, as
well as interviews on Radio 4.
I’m conscious that some optometrists and
dispensing opticians have little experience
in seeing children and feel daunted by
the prospect. I promise you, it’s well worth
trying. Children offer a refreshing change
to the routine eye examination, requiring
imagination and patience but delivering
tremendous professional satisfaction and
plenty of fun!
Resources to help you
Have a look on the AOP’s website, in
case you missed the ‘Top Tips’ guide
to examining children’s eyes and
dispensing spectacles.
We are in the process of making a
film showing some of the techniques
and equipment that you may find
useful in seeing children. The aim of
this is to show you how accessible
paediatric eye care really is. The
techniques you need to adopt are
straightforward and the equipment
that you need to obtain is simple to
use. Many of the major CET providers
are recognising the importance of
children’s eye care as a training need. There
are courses and workshops, as well as MCQs
available, all designed to improve your
confidence and ability in seeing children.
To fundamentally change the way in
which vision screening is conducted in the
UK will take time. The Children’s Eyecare
Initiative has long-term aims to change the
way the Government looks at children’s eye
care but for the time
being we have more
modest and achievable
goals – to encourage
motivated parents to
take their child for an
eye examination.
Polly Dulley
Want to know more?
See the AOP’s website for details
about the children’s eye health
campaign www.aop.org.uk/
campaigns. If you would like more
information about the Optical
Confederation’s Children’s Eyecare
Initiative, or have an interesting case
study from your practice, please
contact Anne Grenyer on 020 7401
5316 or annegrenyer@aop.org.uk
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25/03/11 Children’s Vision Supplement
I recommend Dr Saunders’s recent paper