40,000 SEND children across South East England can now receive life-changing eye care as charity SeeAbility brings its award-winning service into special schools
Disability charity SeeAbility has been awarded an NHS contract to offer eye care to large numbers of special schools across South East England.
SeeAbility’s research shows that children with learning disabilities are 28 times more likely to have a sight problem, but over four in ten have no history of eye care. Since 2013, the charity has brought sight tests, glasses dispensing and full clinical care into special schools to combat this striking health inequality among SEND children.
Half of the children SeeAbility has supported have had a problem with their vision, and often a simple pair of glasses is all that is needed.
One person whose life has been transformed by the service is Terence, who received his first ever eye test through SeeAbility at the age of 20. The charity’s eye care team identified that he had a prescription of minus 19, meaning he could see no further than two inches from his face. When he received his first pair of glasses, his vision was fully corrected: an experience captured on film, highlighting the impact of the service.
Now, as a result of SeeAbility’s decade-long campaign, the NHS is due to roll out the service to every special school in the country. SeeAbility has been chosen as the provider for South East England, reaching up to 40,000 children.
SeeAbility’s Special Schools Eye Care Service, which will deliver the new contract across South East England, has received national recognition, including the nasen Award for Provision of the Year in 2019 and the Overall Excellence Award at the Charity Awards in 2021.
The service provides much more than a simple eye test, offering comprehensive eye care and a written report explaining each student’s eye care needs and the support they may require.
Children and young people attending a special education setting are eligible for an NHS optical voucher towards the cost of glasses which can be used at any optician (parents/carers can choose to provide co-payment where the cost of frames chosen falls outside of the value of the NHS voucher).
SeeAbility as a charity commit to provide spectacles at no cost to families which are always fitted by a qualified dispensing optician with their follow up support to ensure they are worn successfully.
Lisa Donaldson, SeeAbility’s Director of Eye Care and Vision, says:
We are absolutely delighted that so many special schools across the South East will be able to benefit from SeeAbility’s eye care and glasses provision, optimally supporting every student to achieve their visual potential.
This development follows over a decade of campaigning, research evidencing unmet need, refining models of care and developing a solid evidence base.
No child should have to experience avoidable or undiagnosed visual impairment. With the appropriate adjustments and setting, it is possible for everyone to access eye care. That includes young people with complex needs and disabilities and those who are not able to express themselves verbally. We can get so much information, and can prescribe glasses if needed, just from shining a light into someone’s eyes.
From November, the charity’s long-established Special Schools Eye Care Service will be introduced in the South East, including the Thames Valley, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Medway, where it is estimated that 40,000 children could benefit.
To access SeeAbility’s Eye Care Service in the South East, each school must opt into the service individually by contacting SeeAbility.
For more information, please visit SeeAbility's NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service webpage.