Children's Services and adult eye movement disorders

The team in this service offers a full range of treatments for children’s eye conditions, and adult ocular motility disorders both in our dedicated Eye Unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and in other community locations.

Who are we?

Our team consists of 4 Paediatric Ophthalmologists (eye doctors who have a special interest in children’s eye conditions), Paediatric Nurses, Orthoptists and Optometrists (Opticians), as well as Paediatric Anaesthetists and an Eye Clinic Liaison Officer (for children with visual impairment needing sight registration.)

Orthoptics

Orthoptists investigate, diagnose and treat disorders related to eye development, eye alignment (e.g. squints) and problems relating to reduced vision. This may be due to amblyopia (lazy eye) and/or the need for glasses.

Orthoptists also assess abnormal eye movements, which may be caused by nerve palsy, injury to the eye or diseases affecting the muscles in the eye. Patients with eye movement problems often complain of experiencing double vision (diplopia).

Orthoptists may treat patients with prisms, eye exercises or patches. They are autonomous practitioners who also work alongside Ophthalmologists and Optometrists.

We are based at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, but also offer a range of Orthoptic outpatient clinics at Poole, Wimborne and Swanage hospitals. We also provide:

• Inpatient assessment of patients on the Stroke Unit and dedicated outpatient Stroke clinics (Royal Bournemouth and Poole Hospitals only)
• School Vision Screening for all children in Reception Year in state and independent schools in Dorset

Orthoptists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) to practise.

Head Orthoptist and Optometry Service manager: Julie Dowdney

Orthoptic Department Secretary: 0300 019 4422

Optometry

Hospital optometrists (opticians) have an extended role compared to community or high street optometrists. They provide specialist refraction (test for glasses) and contact lens services, as well as an increasing role working in specialist clinics alongside ophthalmologists and other medical professionals.

At Royal Bournemouth Hospital our services include:

• Refraction and ocular assessment for children referred from school screening, GPs or community optometrists.
• Contact lens fitting service for medical and therapeutic need. This might include when vision cannot be improved with spectacles or for pain relief. The types of lenses we can fit include: RGP (Rigid Gas Permeable), Soft, Cosmetic, Scleral and Hybrid lenses.
• Working alongside ophthalmologists to assess and determine management plans for patients with conditions including: Age
• Complex refraction clinics to determine optimal spectacle prescription and vision.

What conditions do we treat and manage?

Our children's services cover all major types of eye condition. The most common conditions that we assess and treat include squints (strabismus - an eye that wanders or does not move exactly with the other eye) lazy eye (amblyopia), and refractive errors (a need for glasses)

We are also able to assess and diagnose children’s eye disease for instance cataract, glaucoma, and retinal or genetic problems. We also see children with eye lid and tear duct problems and allergy related conditions.

We screen premature babies on the Neonatal Unit at Poole Hospital for Retinopathy of Prematurity. We are often asked by Paediatricians or Geneticists to ‘screen’ the eye for problems that may occur with other medical conditions such as Neurofibromatosis Type 1 or Down’s syndrome.

We have strong links with tertiary referral centres such as Southampton, Oxford and Great Ormond Street in London. If your child is found to have a complex or rare eye condition, then we may need to refer your child to a national specialist centre. For many of these children, we then subsequently provide “shared-care” with these tertiary sites.

To find out more information about children’s eye conditions please click here (link to patient leaflets – just paeds ones)

Where do we work?

As well as providing clinics at our Eye Unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital we also run satellite clinics at Poole, Wimborne, Christchurch and Swanage Hospitals.

How do I make an appointment with this service?

If you have a concern about your child’s eyes or vision we would recommend that you contact your child’s GP or Health Visitor in the first instance. For older children you could also visit a high street/community optician. If he or she decides that your child’s eye condition needs to be investigated by more specialist staff, they will arrange for you to have an outpatient appointment with University Hospital Dorset. If you choose to be treated here, we will send you a letter confirming the date, time and location of your appointment with us.

What do I do if my child has an eye emergency?

Paediatric emergency eye conditions are dealt with at our Eye Emergency department. This provides treatment for urgent, sight-threatening problems and for issues that cannot wait for a routine appointment with your GPs. It is open during the day, Monday to Sunday. It is accessed via our telephone triage line (see below.) In the evening or overnight children can be treated for eye emergencies in our main A&E departments, currently based at Royal Bournemouth Hospital or Poole Hospital.  The main A&E is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

Eye Emergency triage telephone number: 0300 019 4181

For more information about our Eye Emergency Department please click here (link to EED page)