Call to action on children's eye care

It's an uncomfortable question to face, but does the optical profession really care about children's eye care? There is new impetus to the issue of children's eye care in the wake of the Transitions Eye Know Eye Care schools campaign (Optician 26.06.09) and to the grumbling discontent over the scrapping of eye screening in schools.

Plenty of practitioners will extol the virtues of encouraging kids into their practice, but do they live up to that talk? Documentary evidence from parents on how easy it is to get an eye test for a youngster at a time of their choosing says they don't. Practices are happy to see kids mid-afternoon on weekdays, slots may be shorter and the eyewear on offer the six frames within voucher value with bog standard lenses. And given the value kids represent to a practice who can blame them?