Last updated: September 2024
The Vision and Hearing Team accept referrals from parents/carers, settings, medical/health professionals, other professionals and other services e.g. Portage and Social Care.
There are VHT referral forms available on the Portsmouth City Council Local Offer website, Portsmouth Education Partnership website and on request. The Advisory Teachers have links with the Ophthalmology departments of our local hospitals and ensure that the medical professionals are aware of our referral criteria to ensure that children and young people (CYP) in Portsmouth receive support from the VHT if needed. Referrals are also made to the service from specialist hospitals such as Moorfields, Royal London Hospital or Great Ormond Street.
A referral form is completed by the referrer and should include a parental/carer signature and signed consent to work with the CYP. A copy of the signed referral form will be returned to the parent/carer.
All referrals are received centrally to the service and checked by the VHT Leader. If the criteria is met, the referral is allocated to an Advisory Teacher. The referrer will be notified if the referral meets the criteria.
The Advisory Teacher will make contact with the school or early years setting, to make an appointment. Parents are informed. If the referral is for a baby or child not yet at nursery or pre-school the Advisory Teacher will visit the home.
Once a child has been referred and accepted as an appropriate referral, an initial assessment will be carried out and a report written (in accordance with VHT Assessment Policy and Reporting Policy). In some cases, a Record of Contact will be written for an early years child so that information can be gathered at further visits over time to enable a comprehensive report to be written. Support is guided by the NatSIP (National Sensory Impairment Partnership) eligibility criteria which gives a score and a support pattern but also based on the professional judgement of the Specialist Teacher Adviser and needs identified.
Referral Criteria for Visual Impairment
- We will work with children and young people with or without a diagnosis.
- We offer support to all children and young people from birth to 19 who meet the criteria below.
- Post 16 young people without an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) must be in some form of further education e.g. college or apprenticeship.
- We do not support young people at university or in the work placement.
- If the young person has an EHCP, we will support up to age 25 whilst they are in some form of further education or apprenticeship.
- We support pre-school children and like to be involved as soon as a visual impairment has been diagnosed or identified. There is no lower age limit.
- If a CYP is on roll at a setting but being educated at home, the VHT will continue to support.
- If the CYP is electively home educated and already on the VHT caseload, an Advisory Teacher will do an initial home visit, carry out assessments and write a report. There will be no further involvement from the VHT unless commissioned to do so or the CYP returns to a setting.
- If the CYP is electively home educated and not already on the VHT caseload, the VHT can only work with the child or young person if the VHT has been commissioned to do so.
- A referral form should be completed with signed consent.
Children and young people will receive support if they meet one or more of the following:
- A corrected distance vision of 6/12* or less, in the better eye. (mild visual loss)
- A corrected distance vision of 6/12* or less with both eyes together. (mild visual loss)
- A near vision of 6/12* (difficulty reading print size N14 or smaller at 30-33cm) (mild visual loss)
- Restricted visual fields which might be central affecting near vision e.g. Cone Dystrophy associated with Bull’s Eye Maculopathy, or peripheral loss.
- Peripheral defects must be extensive enough to meet criteria for registration.
- A degenerative eye condition (early referral vital) e.g. Retinitis Pigmentosa, Usher’s Syndrome, Juvenile Batten’s Disease.
- Any diagnosed ocular condition (not including refractive errors).
- Registration as sight impaired or severely sight impaired. This is on the recommendation of an ophthalmologist. The orthoptist/ophthalmologist will complete the registration form and the VI service will carry out the functional vision assessment.
- Cortical Visual Impairment (diagnosed by a consultant ophthalmologist).
- Acquired VI e.g. traumatic head injury leading to loss of vision.
- Refractive error not fully corrected by glasses or other visual impairment which prevents effective use of vision.
*NOTE: *The classification of readings above applies to corrected vision with both eyes open. The measure of FUNCTIONAL vision (as measured by the Specialist Teacher Adviser, Visual Impairment, QTVI) will be taken. If clinical readings are available, they will help inform. The professional judgement of a QTVI should be applied to decide on the classification and whether the CYP meets the criteria to be placed on request, on the active caseload or not accepted by the Vision and Hearing Team. For example, a young person may have a mild reduction in visual acuity but be functioning within a different visual category due to an additional ophthalmic condition, e.g. Nystagmus, visual field reduction, cerebral visual impairment and/or learning difficulties.
The following are nationally agreed definitions of degrees of vision loss. They refer to the corrected vision (with glasses if worn) in the better eye.
Distance Vision
| Mild vision loss | Within the range 6/12-6/18 Snellen/Kay, Logmar 0.3-0.48 |
| Moderate vision loss | Less than 6/18-6/36 Snellen/Kay, Logmar 0.5-0.78 |
| Severe vision loss | Less than 6/36-6/60 Snellen/Kay, Logmar 0.8-1.00 |
| Profound vision loss | Less than 6/60 Snellen/Kay, Logmar 1.02 |
Near Vision
| Mild vision loss | N14-18 |
| Moderate vision loss | N18-24 |
| Severe vision loss | N24-36 |
| Profound vision loss | Educationally blind/Braille user/can access small quantities of print larger than N36 |
The following do meet the criteria for referral to the service, but may not be placed on the regular caseload and may receive “one off”, “on request” or annual visits only unless there are other associated visual conditions.
- Monocular vision where sight is within normal limits in the good eye and stable
- Squints (dealt with by Orthoptists at the Eye Clinic)
- Mild colour deficiency
- Visual perceptual difficulties
- Lack of binocular (or 3D) vision (usually associated with squints or monocular vision)
