Orthoptics
Contact us
Change or cancel your appointmentAppointments line: 01227 864332
Admin office: 01227 868615 - please leave us a message if calling outside of our opening hours.
Department opening times: 8.30am to 4.45pm, Monday to Friday.
What we do
Orthoptists diagnose and treat a range of eye movement disorders. We also diagnose and treat children’s visual development conditions.
Common conditions referred to the orthoptics department include:
reduced vision in children
Strabismus (Squint)
double vision
eye movement disorders.
About your appointment
Telephone appointments
Most adult and some paediatric patients will receive a telephone appointment first. This will enable the team to book you into the correct clinic to get the most appropriate care. It will also help us decide how quickly we need to see you.
At your first appointment please ensure you have the following:
all glasses you currently use. This is important for every visit to the eye clinic
a list of any regular medications you take
a copy of your most recent glasses prescription if glasses are worn
information on eye conditions of family members. Make sure you ask your family and make a note of what they tell you.
Face to face appointments
At your face to face appointment, you or your child will have:
a vision test
an eye alignment check; and
eye movement assessment.
This is done by asking you or your child to look at a variety of targets in different positions and distances.
Children’s orthoptic appointments take 20-25 minutes. Please see our frequently ask questions below, to look at the pictures or letters we use. Your child might like to practice naming these.
Adult orthoptic appointments take 35-40 minutes. You will be assessed with and without your glasses. It is important you bring all your current glasses to your appointments.
You will not have eyedrops at an orthoptic appointment. However refraction, paediatric ophthalmology and ocular motility appointments can require drops.
Medical students
With your permission, you may be assessed or observed by a student orthoptist under supervision. Please let us know if you do not wish to be assessed or observed by a student.
Cancellations and non-attendances
If you cannot attend, please cancel your appointment as soon as possible. This makes sure we can offer the appointment to another patient. You can call the appointments team on 01227 864332 or use our online cancellation form.
You may be discharged without an appointment if you:
cancel an appointment twice in a row
do not attend an appointment, without cancelling
do not bring your child to their appointment, without cancelling.
In these cases, a clinician will review the health records and decide if an appointment is needed, or if you can be discharged.
If the clinician is concerned harm may come to a patient that has not attended their appointment, the case will be discussed with the hospital safeguarding team.
Patient information leaflets
Please see our Orthoptics patient information library for leaflets and other useful resources.
Where do we provide this service?
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, Margate - Check in at Palm Bay Reception, St Peter’s Road Entrance
Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury - Check in at Outpatient Reception, Outpatients Area B
William Harvey Hospital, Ashford - Check in at Outpatient Reception, Outpatient Area D
Buckland Hospital, Dover (paediatric patients) - Check in at Outpatient Reception, Children's Assessment Centre
Buckland Hospital, Dover (adult patients) - Check in at Outpatient Reception, Main Outpatients area
Royal Victoria Hospital, Folkestone - Check in at Outpatient Reception, Main Outpatients area.
Please note: our staff move between sites so they may not always be available during your visit.
How to access our service
You can be referred to the Orthoptic department by:
Community Optometrist (optician)
GP
School nursing team
Health visitor.
Related services
Paediatric Ophthalmology (Kent and Canterbury Hospital & Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital)
If your orthoptist feels a consultant needs to review your child, they will arrange a paediatric ophthalmology appointment. This appointment is a joint appointment with the orthoptist first and then the consultant. More assessments may be required, such as images of the back of the eye or assessment of the front surface of the eye. Eye drops are likely to be needed at this appointment. Please allow up to two hours for this appointment.
Paediatric Refraction (all sites)
Glasses test for children within the hospital are carried out by optometrists. This is a joint clinic the orthoptist will carry out their checks before you see the optometrist. Eye drops will be needed for this assessment. Older children who are suitable for a sight test without eyedrops will be advised of this. They can have a free sight test with a community optician. Please allow up to two hours for this appointment.
Ocular Motility (Kent and Canterbury Hospital)
Adults who need to be seen by a consultant will be booked into this clinic. You will also see an orthoptist as part of this appointment. This is usually to discuss if patients are suitable for surgery or botulinum toxin (botox) treatment to improve the alignment of their eyes. It is rare you will need eyedrops in this clinic. Please allow up to two hours for this appointment.
Urgent Eye Clinic (appointment only service William Harvey Hospital)
Patients with recent onset double vision may be asked to attend the urgent eye service. Usually you will need two appointments. The first appointment will be with an orthoptist, and the second with an ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist may request eyedrops are used when they review you. You will be given an appointment time but there could be long waiting times. Waiting times depend on the amount of people requiring urgent eye care.
Goldmann Visual Fields (Kent & Canterbury, William Harvey & Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospitals)
Patients may be asked to attend this clinic to have their visual field (area of vision) assessed. You will need to sit with your chin on a chin rest for the length of the appointment. Please bring any glasses you use to this appointment. You will not require eyedrops for this test. Please allow up to 45 minutes for this appointment.
Pentacam Clinic (Kent and Canterbury Hospital)
Patients will have their vision assessed and images taken of the front surface of the eye. Images will be taken using the Pentacam. You need to sit with your chin on a chin rest. See our patient information leaflet to learn more. Please allow up to 40 minutes for this appointment.
Frequently asked questions
Please call the department on 01227 868615 and tell us the patient’s name, date of birth and hospital number. We will pick up any messages from the answerphone. We can then post out more patches.
Return to the optician that provided the broken glasses and ask for a replacement. If the cost of the glasses was covered by the voucher provided, this will be free. If you had to pay towards the glasses it is likely you will need to pay towards replacement too.
The voucher the hospital issues is valid for 1 year. In this timeframe, it is the responsibility of the optician who made the glasses to repair or replace them.
Most children who need glasses have them updated once each year. This can vary depending on the individual needs of the patient. Some patients may be advised to attend a community optician. Please discuss with your orthoptist if you have any further questions.
The orthoptic team are experts at assessing vision for people of all ages and abilities. Orthoptic testing involves showing patients lights, toys, pictures or letters and making observations. Vision testing can be as simple as making observations when these things are shown to a patient. For those that are able to recognise shapes or pictures, they can communicate what they see by using a matching card to point, by signing, or they can tell us what they see.
Young children may name or give sound effects to these pictures in a different way to an adult. We will check what each patient wants to call these pictures before we start the test.
You can practice at home by downloading our tools below, and using the Kay Say and Match app.
Download our tools used to assess your child's visionWe usually only offer sight testing for people who need treatment for their eyes, beyond glasses alone.
SeeAbility are a charity that can signpost patients to opticians who welcome people with learning disabilities, autism and other additional needs.
SeeAbility has been appointed as the provider of the NHS Sight Testing and Spectacle Dispensing Service in Special Educational Settings. They will provide accessible eyecare in educational settings supporting children and young people up to 25 years old.
Please call us on 01227 868615 and we will try to support any requests to make your visit as easy as possible.