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Last Update 25/04/12 |
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© Bedfordshire LOC 2009 |
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A word from Liz James, Eye Service Manager at Bedford PCT - July 06 Bedford Primary Care Trust employs the Bedfordshire Orthoptic Team. We have community orthoptic and ophthalmic clinics across the county. We also provide orthoptic services under contract to the Luton & Dunstable and Bedford Hospital. In the old South Bedfordshire area we have a well-established vision-screening programme of 4-5 year old children. Unfortunately we have not been able to secure funding to extend this into Mid and North Beds, but we are working on it! We do hope to extend the vision screening of 4 year olds to the whole of Bedfordshire, if funding is made available, optometrists with a special interest in paediatrics may like to contact us. In the Southern area of the county we have had vision and colour vision screening of 10-year-old children in schools by a trained Health Care Assistant, with referral to an optometrist where necessary. Unfortunately this service has been withdrawn with immediate effect in favour of obesity checks of height and weight for every child – a new Government mandate. We would welcome any suggestions for health promotion to fill this gap or are you aware of any appropriate leaflets? The Orthoptists work closely with the Community Ophthalmologists. Unfortunately our Bedford based Ophthalmologist is on long-term sick leave. You may have received a letter from your local orthoptist requesting a refraction and fundoscopy examination of some of our older patients who are still under going treatment. This is an opportunity for the optometrists and orthoptists to work together locally to the mutual benefit of our patients. It would be very helpful, if on receipt of one of these letters, you would notify us of your findings on the sheet attached to the letter. As therapists we depend on accurate refractions to enable our amblyopia treatment to be effective. Even a minor difference in a refractive error could influence whether occlusion treatment is required. The orthoptists work out a treatment plan with the family for each patient based on the level of vision, the age of the child and the family circumstances, bearing in mind that occlusion not always a popular treatment although it is effective. We try to educate families on the care of glasses but unfortunately some children’s glasses are broken so frequently it puts pressure on our system and yours. Our policy is to issue a maximum of 2 HES[P] glasses vouchers per year for children, as there is restriction on our glasses budget. In order to treat amblyopia effectively we advocate full time wear of glasses generally up to the age of discharge. By full time wear we mean wearing glasses all their waking hours. When a child wears the glasses only for close work we find little improvement in visual acuity or the angle of squint. Young children do a limited amount of reading or close work, forget to put their glasses on, and tend to lose or break the glasses by not putting them in a safe place. We advise parents to take damaged or broken spectacles to their optometrist for repair and if they want additional frames these are available at a cost. If you would like any more information please contact Liz James at Liverpool Rd Health Centre email: liz.james@blpt.nhs.uk For details of the text of the full leaflet click here.
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