Multiple to train staff to spot eye cancer

Practitioners working in Vision Express branches across the UK and Ireland will receive professional training to help them spot the signs of childhood eye cancer.

Working in partnership with the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT), the training scheme has been announced during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and is said to demonstrate the multiple’s commitment to “reducing delays in diagnosis of the life-threatening condition.”

Vision Express has worked with CHECT since 2010, and to date has raised more than £300,00 for the charity.

The CET-accredited training initiative is the second education campaign established by Vision Express in a bid to reduce delays in the diagnosis of retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that mainly affects children up to six years old.

Training will include a series of videos presented by two retinoblastoma consultants and a representative of CHECT, as well as an interactive module to reinforce learning.

CEO of Vision Express, Jonathan Lawson, said: "Opticians are at the frontline in helping to battle this rare childhood eye cancer so we’re hoping this training module will build on the important foundations laid down by the protocol already adopted by Vision Express, and bring the learning alive for all optical professionals to ensure we can collectively tackle the disease head on.”

In 2013, Vision Express became the first opticians in the UK to adopt a protocol to ensure a quick and effective referral if retinoblastoma is suspected.