1. How many LA and CCGs are served by your organisation for all acute, community and specialist services?
RESPONSE - Lancashire County Council (LCC), East Lancashire CCG, Blackburn with Darwen CCG, Blackburn with Darwen Council
2. Does your organisation provide the Orthoptic Services for the resident populations of these LAs and CCGs? Y/N
RESPONSE - YES
3. Is a vision screening service currently available in the area (by LA or CCG) served by your organisation for providing Orthoptic Services? Y / N
RESPONSE - YES
If NO - please list the LA/CCG that do not provide a vision screening service If YES – For each commissioned screening service please indicate:
a. Who commissions it - LA or CCG?
RESPONSE - We have a service throughout Lancashire tendered by LCC in collaboration with Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust which includes the East Lancashire CCG. Blackburn with Darwen CCG commission the area not covered by the LCC tender.
b. Its compliance with the PHE service specifications i.e. Orthoptic-led and delivered with Quality Assurance and clinical audit processes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...)
i. Compliant
ii. Not compliant
RESPONSE - Fully compliant
4. List the key features of each commissioned screening service :
a. Settings (e.g. school).
RESPONSE - School
b. Screening personnel (e.g. orthoptist, school nurse or other health professional).
RESPONSE - Vision screener fully trained by Orthoptist
c. The onward care pathway for children who fail the vision screening.
RESPONSE - For East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, we have a pathway where all children who fail are offered an appointment with the hospital optometrist/orthoptic department
d. The quality assurance processes (audit) and identified clinical lead for the vision screening service.
RESPONSE - The Deputy Head Orthoptist is the designated lead. Should you wish to contact them, please call the Trust switchboard on 01254 263555 and ask to be directed through to them.
5. Tell us how you monitor if every eligible child in the Local Authority or CCG commissioning the service has been tested (including those in private schools, or those who are home schooled).
RESPONSE - Private schools are contacted and offered the screening and this year have all accepted. With regards to home schooled children, LCC have a leaflet devised by the orthoptic service which is distributed to all registered home schooled children of reception age. They then contact the orthoptic service directly.
6. Tell us whether a vision screening programme has been commissioned for the current financial year
RESPONSE - Yes
7. If a vision screening service is not currently available, in a Local Authority or CCG served by your Organisation could you please tell us for each of these LA or CCGs –
a. why it has not been commissioned?
b. whether a service is planned for the next financial year (2020/21)?
c. whether an existing service has been recently decommissioned?
RESPONSE - N/A