Specsavers Gives Free Eye Exams to 23,574 Kiwi Kids

Media Release

25 January 2016

Specsavers Gives Free Eye Exams to 23,574 Kiwi Kids in Six Months

900,000 still eligible for Specsavers ‘Kids Go Free’ offer

Since the Specsavers Kids Go Free health initiative launched six months ago, 23,574 New Zealand children have received a free comprehensive eye examination. This equates to a $1.4 million investment in the eye health of New Zealand children.

The permanent Kids Go Free offer enables all New Zealanders under the age of 16 to have their eyes tested for free at any Specsavers store throughout the country as often as required. According to the 2013 Census, a total of 930,000 New Zealanders are eligible, which means more than 900,000 children are yet to take up the offer.

Brendan Thompson, Specsavers NZ Retail Director says, “It is wonderful to see that parents have taken advantage of our Kids Go Free offer and will now include eye tests as an important, regular health check for their children. With more than 23,000 children already through the doors in six months, it is clear that there is high demand, which is why we decided to make Kids Go Free a permanent offer.

“However, there’s still a potential 900,000 children that may have undiagnosed eye health issues and haven’t yet taken up the comprehensive eye exam offer. Now is the time to book an eye exam before the new school year begins,” Mr Thompson adds.

A recent survey* carried out by Specsavers revealed that almost half of New Zealand parents have not taken their child or children to have their eyes tested at an optometrist. The main reason for this was that children’s eyes were tested at school (46 percent), followed by parents not knowing that children should have a comprehensive eye exam (45 percent).

Niall McCormack, Specsavers Hastings Optometrist says, “New Zealand schools offer basic eye screening of children at the age of four and in Year Seven, however they do not comprehensively test for all vision problems, and it wouldn’t be realistic from a resourcing or expertise point of view for them to do that. We recommend all Kiwis from the age of three have a comprehensive eye exam every two years.

“The aim of Kids Go Free is to help improve the eye health of children and enable them to progress and learn by picking up any vision difficulties at a young age, as after eight years old it can become more difficult to reverse such problems.

“Some tell-tale signs a child may have vision problems include; if they have learning or reading difficulties, are clumsier than usual for their age, screw up their eyes or tilt their head to see, or have frequent headaches. It is important that parents keep an eye on their child’s vision and if in doubt book an eye exam,” he says.

Mr Thompson adds, “We’ve seen peaks in children’s eye exam bookings during the schools holidays which is fantastic and we are looking forward to being able to carry out even more eye exams on Kiwi kids during 2016.”

Parents can request an appointment for their child at any of the 51 Specsavers stores by going to www.specsavers.co.nz or phoning their local store.

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