Bedfordshire and Luton Children's Community Eye Service

We are a small specialist medical service led by orthoptists. We specialise in diagnosing and treating eye conditions. We are able to treat conditions medically and surgically.

Our team will help children and young people with:

• reduced vision
• squints (eye turning in towards the nose or out towards the ear)
• eye muscle defects 
• issues with depth perception
• other visual abnormalities
• special educational needs (in clinic and special schools)

You will be offered an appointment with an Orthoptist. Orthoptists are specialists who asses your child’s vision, eye movements, eye position and 3D vision. We are specially trained to do these tests in very young children.

Child vision clinics are to reassess your child's eyes. They are offered to children who have been referred by the school vision screening programme. If your child needs to go to a child vision clinic, you will receive a text message. This text will have a link for your to book your child's appointment for the child vision clinic. 

At the clinic your child will see a orthoptic support worker and optometrist. The clinics can last 1 to 2 hours.

During the appointment, your child may need to have eye-drops in their eyes. These drops will make the test more accurate. It can take some time for the eye drops to work, so you and your child may need to wait. Once the eye drops are working, the optometrist will look at your child's eye health and check to see if they need glasses. 

Read more about getting glasses.

Our team run the school vision screening programme. This is to check for reduced vision in one or both eyes. This is done during reception when your child is between 4 to 5 years old.

Vision screening in schools is part of the national screening programme. It uses an opt out consent system. If you do not want your child to take part you will need to contact your child's school to find out how to opt-out. It will be done at your child's school. If your child is not in a school or is not in school long-term we can make other arrangements. 

Read more about children's vision screening

Vision therapy clinics are specialist clinics. Your child will need to be referred by a GP, school nurse or Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo). 

In these clinics we assess children who are having:

• difficulties with reading
• difficulties focusing their eyes
• difficulties tracking with their eyes
• eye strain symptoms like headaches, difficulties reading, blurry vision for close work

If your child or young person has been referred for vision therapy, they will be seen at Kempston or Wigmore Lane Health Centre. 

Please note, we do not diagnose dyslexia.

We are aware that some children with special needs may need adjustments made for them at have a meaningful eye check.

We have a number of tests suitable for non-verbal children to assess their vision. Other tests can be carried out by observing your child’s eye movements.

If you have any concerns about how your child will cope during an eye check please get in touch with us and you can discuss it with your Orthoptist.

Read more about eye care for children with Down's syndrome