Page 32 - DISINVESTMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF VISION SCREENING TESTS BASED ON THEIR EFFECTIVENESS
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CHAPTER 2
Personnel and referral
Screening is mostly performed by paediatricians, ophthalmologist and/or nurses. In most countries children are referred to ophthalmologists for further examination; in Latvia they are referred to the General Practitioner (GP), in the UK they may also be referred to joint orthoptic and optometry clinics or optometrists, in Malta to either the orthoptist or optometrist, and in the Netherlands they are mostly referred via the GP to an orthoptist or ophthalmologist, but sometimes directly to an orthoptist, ophthalmologist, optometrist, or optician.
Funding
In most countries vision screening is free, except for the Czech Republic, Malta, Switzerland, and Turkey. Funding is 33% (partially) provided by Health Insurance and 53% (partially) by the State. Parents and charity pay (part of the) screening in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Turkey.
Coverage
Coverage varied from just starting (Estonia, Portugal, Turkey) to more than 95% in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, and parts of the UK. Coverage of different testing time points varied, as did number of children screened, dependent on the age at which testing was performed. The highest coverage percentage was regarded as coverage for each particular country. Further detailed data is presented in table 2 and Appendix Map 1.
Hearing
Information on neonatal hearing screening programmes was obtained from 38 countries (including two Belgian regions). No information could be obtained from Macedonia.
Nationwide UNHS programmes exist in 33 of 38 countries. Malta has nationwide selective screening only for infants from neonatal and paediatric IC units. In Bulgaria, Moldova, and Serbia local selective screening programmes for high risk groups (premature newborns) exist. In Albania a pilot nationwide UNHS programme was discontinued due to lack of funds.
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