Children and young people in residential special schools with special educational needs and disabilities are to be offered free NHS eye, hearing and dental checks from next year.
The new checks will be offered to all special residential schools and colleges across England, reaching around 18,000 children and young people.
Autistic people and those with a learning disability are more likely to experience eyesight, hearing and dental problems than their peers, according to NHS England.
The NHS has developed guidance and commissioning frameworks to help ICBs deliver these services. These have been created alongside those with a learning disability, their families and clinicians, and piloted in schools in 2022 and 2023.
The eyesight checks will be carried out annually, and at least one face to face dental check will be offered, with termly in-person oral health advice. Hearing checks will be done at school entry and then ‘transition points’, such as moving from primary to secondary school, or to college. If any issues are identified, the child will be referred to the GP or local audiology team.
Tom Cahill, national learning disability and autism director at NHS England, said: ‘Mainstream services can sometimes struggle to meet the needs of autistic children and young people, or those with a profound learning disability, so these new sensory checks in residential special schools will provide the support they need.
‘Having specialist services which take account of an individual’s reasonable adjustments, with support from people that know them well and delivered by appropriately-trained staff, will help ensure that they are able to access sensory checks that other children and young people routinely receive.
‘This NHS scheme will mean that around 18,000 children and young people will receive NHS sensory checks ensuring any issues are tackled promptly, reducing health inequalities.’
Anne Worrall-Davies, NHS England’s children and young people’s learning disability and autism and SEND clinical lead, said: ‘We are delighted that we will soon be able to offer these vitally important checks to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in order to reduce health inequalities, identify unmet needs and provide any necessary treatment and follow-up support.’
Health minister, Stephen Kinnock, said: ‘I am pleased we will be able to support vital sensory checks for all pupils in special educational settings, in a comfortable and known environment for them.
‘These checks will enable health issues in around 18,000 children and young people to be identified more promptly – tackling health inequalities by giving them access to the right high-quality care and support faster.’
It comes after NHS England appointed its first medical director for mental health and neurodiversity in June.
