College calls for clear strategy on children

Helen Stanforth, the College's head of professional services, welcomed an 'emerging findings' report published by the group tasked to improve care and reduce unacceptable variations in the health of the nation's children.
However, although Stanforth applauded the recognition the document gives for the need for improved access to child health screening for disadvantaged groups and areas, she voiced the College's disappointment that the report gives no mention to children's eye care.
In a letter to the NSF's project manager, Clare Phillips, she points out: 'Young people need good eyesight and yet approximately one in five children have visual problems and more than two-thirds of these are not receiving professional care.'
Nevertheless, she agrees with the report when it states that partnership between agencies of the NHS is 'nowhere...more necessary than in meeting the needs of children and families, who consistently express frustration at the poor co-ordination of services.
'Optometrists sometimes feel that they are at the fringes of Òjoined-upÓ working,' she said, 'with little or no properly established information flow between themselves, other primary care providers and secondary care.'
Stanforth told the project manager that as patients from poor social classes also have poorer visual health than others, it was particularly important that these children were encouraged to make use of the free NHS eye examination for under 16-year-olds.
The College was particularly unhappy at the lack of recognition that some disabled children, such as those with cerebral palsy or Down's syndrome, have a higher incidence of visual problems.
'These children are among the most vulnerable in our society and it is vital that they have the best possible chance in life,' she writes.
Last year, David Thomson, City University's senior lecturer in optometry and vision sciences, warned that the National Screening Committee was planning to remove the 'safety net' of vision screening in schools.
david.challinorrbi.co.ukConcern over the lack of a clear strategy on children's eye care in the Department of Health's National Service Framework (NSF) for children has been voiced by the College of Optometrists.
Helen Stanforth, the College's head of professional services, welcomed an 'emerging findings' report published by the group tasked to improve care and reduce unacceptable variations in the health of the nation's children.
However, although Stanforth applauded the recognition the document gives for the need for improved access to child health screening for disadvantaged groups and areas, she voiced the College's disappointment that the report gives no mention to children's eye care.
In a letter to the NSF's project manager, Clare Phillips, she points out: 'Young people need good eyesight and yet approximately one in five children have visual problems and more than two-thirds of these are not receiving professional care.'
Nevertheless, she agrees with the report when it states that partnership between agencies of the NHS is 'nowhere...more necessary than in meeting the needs of children and families, who consistently express frustration at the poor co-ordination of services.
'Optometrists sometimes feel that they are at the fringes of Òjoined-upÓ working,' she said, 'with little or no properly established information flow between themselves, other primary care providers and secondary care.'
Stanforth told the project manager that as patients from poor social classes also have poorer visual health than others, it was particularly important that these children were encouraged to make use of the free NHS eye examination for under 16-year-olds.
The College was particularly unhappy at the lack of recognition that some disabled children, such as those with cerebral palsy or Down's syndrome, have a higher incidence of visual problems.
'These children are among the most vulnerable in our society and it is vital that they have the best possible chance in life,' she writes.
Last year, David Thomson, City University's senior lecturer in optometry and vision sciences, warned that the National Screening Committee was planning to remove the 'safety net' of vision screening in schools.
david.challinorrbi.co.uk