New eye clinics have opened for visually impaired children who have cancer, acquired brain injuries, multiple disabilities or complex health needs.

Thanks to a new initiative, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has introduced eye clinics specifically for children from the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton and the Children’s Trust in Tadworth.

Jane Leitch, consultant paediatric opthamologist at the Trust, and helped set up the new clinics, which opened in September and provide services to 32 patients per month.

She said: “Some children may not be able to communicate with their carers and doctors the way healthy children can, some – such as those with neuro-disabilities or brain tumours – may be of a speaking age but actually require tests designed for younger children. These new clinics give us that flexibility. They mean we can take our time to make sure the child is getting the best possible individual care.

“For all these children, it’s important that their treatment – whether as an outpatient at our eye clinic or an inpatient at another hospital – is delivered at the right pace, in the right surroundings, with the children’s carers able to ask as many questions as they need to.”