Irish campaign targets follow-ups

Children in Ireland are waiting up to four years for eye exams said the Association of Optometrists Ireland (AOI) as it launched an awareness week to highlight the importance of correct and timely diagnosis and treatment of eye problems.

Launching Bright Eyes, the AOI claimed that the school screening system was failing children who were being treated too late because of a shortage of appointments with ophthalmologists.

In addition, they were not being tested sufficiently for reading vision difficulties.

Optometric adviser Lynda McGivney-Nolan gave examples of waiting time follow-up exams from the screening system of 47 months in Kildare and three years in Dublin. ‘Given that state screening takes place when children are five or six, this means that many children, identified as having a vision concern, are not getting specialist exams until long after the age seven, if at all,’ she said.