The government and NHS England announced that children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities will be offered NHS funded sight tests.
These will be offered in day or residential special schools and colleges in England, in addition to hearing and dental checks in residential schools, starting in 2025.
Adam Sampson, chief executive at the Association of Optometrists, said: ‘Children with SEN are 28 times more likely to have a serious sight condition, and they face real challenges in accessing eye care due to the potential for anxiety or distress when getting their sight tests in unfamiliar settings.
‘Having annual sight checks in their school will ensure they can access the crucial eye care they require with eye conditions identified and treated as soon as possible.’
While Sampson described the announcement as promising and beneficial for thousands of pupils, he emphasised the need for further discussions to ensure optimal delivery of the service.
Tom Cahill, national learning disability and autism director at NHS England, commented: ‘Mainstream services can sometimes struggle to meet the needs of autistic children and young people, or those with a profound learning disability, so these new sensory checks in residential special schools will provide the support they need.
‘Having specialist services which take account of an individual’s reasonable adjustments, with support from people that know them well and delivered by appropriately-trained staff, will help ensure that they are able to access sensory checks that other children and young people routinely receive.’
Expected to reach around 18,000 children and young people, the Sensory Checks Programme was piloted in schools during 2022 and 2023, and was introduced in the 2019 NHS Long Term Plan.
