Children assessed by the hospital optician (FOI)

Request

A

Over the last two years, how many children seen by the hospital optician required glasses?

B

Of that number, what value did the States / relevant governing body contribute to providing these young children with glasses? (For the actual glasses and lenses, not the appointment).

C

Or were these prescription glasses entirely funded by parents regardless of their income?

Response

A

In 2016, 189 of the 830 new patients under the age of 18, seen and assessed by the Orthoptists, required glasses.

In 2017, the figure was 149 of the 734 children seen.

In addition, the optician within the department who assesses children with glasses may have issued repeat prescriptions for new glasses to children who are already known to the service. Glasses are usually replaced on an annual basis.

Health and Social Services Department (HSSD) do not capture the detail electronically to answer this question fully and a manual search of all records of attendance would be required to do so. Such a search would exceed 12.5 hours and therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

B

HSSD do not contribute to the cost of children’s glasses. All glasses are dispensed from local opticians.

C

If parents inform the staff in the Ophthalmology Department that they cannot afford their children’s glasses they are advised to contact Social Security to establish if they are eligible for financial support or signposted to charitable organisations who may be able to assist.

Exemptions applied

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.