Pop-up van offers ice creams alongside eye screening

The dulcet tones of Greensleeves usually heralds the arrival of ice cream. This summer there will be an optical coda to the iconic tune – with visual screeners on offer alongside iced treats.

Specsavers launched the pop-up Eye Screen Van at Southbank in London on 26 July and the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh on 28 July.

The initiative follows an online survey of 1044 UK parents that found one in four children between the ages of four and 16 had never had a sight test, while one in five had not had their sight tested in two years or longer.

The research found that around one in four respondents (26%) said their child had experienced problems at school that could be linked to their vision.

The most common issues raised by parents included struggling to see the whiteboard (37%), having to move to the front of the classroom to see (33%) or experiencing headaches (28%).

Clinical services director at Specsavers, Giles Edmonds, highlighted that ensuring children have regular sight tests from an early age is “incredibly important.”

“Given more than 80 % of our learning, cognitive and social abilities are facilitated through our sight, it’s extremely important to your child's overall development,” he said.

Edmonds noted that poor eyesight can cause learning and behavioural problems – while some conditions, such as amblyopia, can be treated more effectively if they are picked up early.

“An eye test doesn’t just check vision. It can also detect other underlying health conditions,” he said.

Edmonds acknowledged that parents have many competing priorities during the summer holidays and before the school year starts.

“By showing up with our Eye Screen Van, we hope we’ve put eye tests on parents’ radars as they play a significant role in setting children up for a happy and fulfilling school life,” he said.