Eye cancer protocol to help save more lives

An initiative from the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT) to help cut delays in diagnosis of children has been backed by both the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the College of Optometrists.

The charity has called for its Opticians’ Protocol on Suspected Retinoblastoma (News 17.05.13) to become familiar to all optical staff. It said that in general practitioners were correctly referring children with suspected retinoblastoma (Rb), but some faced delays in obtaining appointments or were turned away by staff unaware of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

CHECT chief executive Joy Felgate said: ‘It’s great news that in 2012 100 per cent of opticians who examined children with Rb, prior to diagnosis, made the appropriate referral, but this doesn’t tell the whole story. In our experience, staff at some optician stores, which choose not to examine babies and young children, have sent parents away with misleading or no information at all about where to seek help and the need for an urgent examination. As a result, some babies and young children are facing serious delays in receiving life-saving treatment.