Parents to judge when child has vision problem

It should be up to parents of young children to detect sight problems in the absence of a national screening programme, the Department of Health (DoH) has insisted in a response to a letter addressed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Optician reader John Snelgrove of Enhanced Optical Services, who is a qualified DO but not registered with the GOC, wrote to the Prime Minster in January and received a reply from the DoH.

In his letter, Snelgrove pointed out that high street practitioners were routinely examining children who had established vision problems which could have been detected and managed earlier.