Disability charity SeeAbility has secured an NHS contract to provide specialist eye care to tens of thousands of children attending special schools across London and the South East of England.
The expanded Special School Eye Care Service will begin rolling out in September 2026 and could reach almost 30,000 children in London, alongside an estimated 40,000 pupils across the Thames Valley, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Medway.
The service offers comprehensive sight tests within schools, free glasses for families, support to help children wear them and written reports explaining each pupil’s visual abilities and eye care needs.
SeeAbility said many children with learning disabilities have never received a sight test, despite being 28 times more likely to experience a sight problem than other children.
Data collected by the charity during more than a decade of work in special schools found that more than four in 10 pupils had no recorded history of eye care. Half had an eye or vision problem, while at least one-third required glasses.
Some pupils were already under the care of hospital eye departments but had struggled to attend routine appointments.
SeeAbility began delivering school-based eye care at Perseid School in south London in 2013. During the past year, it has supported more than 3,000 children across 57 London schools and colleges.
The contract follows years of campaigning by the charity for eye care to be made routinely available in special schools. The government committed to a national rollout in 2023, with a service model, contract specification and dedicated funding issued by 2025 to allow Integrated Care Boards to begin commissioning services.
Lisa Donaldson, SeeAbility’s director of eye care and vision, said the contract would help pupils achieve their “visual potential” and prevent avoidable or undiagnosed sight loss.
“This development follows over a decade of campaigning, research evidencing unmet need, refining models of care and developing a solid evidence base,” Donaldson added. “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 and that includes young people with complex needs and disabilities and those who are not able to express themselves verbally.”
UK special schools must opt into the service individually by contacting SeeAbility. The charity is also recruiting clinicians to join its eye care team and is seeking support from hospital, pediatric, and visual impairment professionals.
Source: SeeAbility.
