title: Paediatric Eye Services: How Much of the Workload Is Amblyopia-Related?
abstract: The proportion of patients seen by the paediatric eye service that attend for reasons related to amblyopia has not been quantified. The purpose of this study was to quantify the proportion of patients seen in the paediatric eye service attending for reasons related to amblyopia.
  
  
  
  Records of all eye appointments of children attending the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and St Mary's Hospital Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust over one month in 2009 were examined to determine the diagnosis and reason for attendance.
  
  
  
  Seven hundred and four patients had appointments booked at St Mary's and Hillingdon in March 2009. The fail-to-attend rates were not significantly different at the 2 sites (19% at St Mary's and 9% at Hillingdon; P=0.75). Of the 704 patients, 533 (St Mary's, 252 [75%]; Hillingdon, 281 [76%]) were attending for amblyopia-related reasons. Of the overall 982 booked appointments, 770 (79%) were amblyopia-related.
  
  
  
  Amblyopia diagnosis and management is clearly the most common cause of attendance to the paediatric eye service, accounting for over three-quarters of outpatient visits.
authors.affiliation: a Division of Optometry and Visual Sciences , City University London , London , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Catherine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: b London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine , Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases , London , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Shaheen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: c Department of Ophthalmology , The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , Uxbridge , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Siobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wren
authors.affiliation: d Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, branch of Moorfields Eye Hospital London , Dubai , United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Clare J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Amblyopia; paediatric eye service; work load