Gary Senior Orthoptist "I'm one of a group of clinicians who specialise in eye conditions – in my case the way the eye moves. I spend a great deal of my time working with children – paediatrics."

Gary is based in a large Children's Hospital and he also does one adult clinic at another hospital.

How are patients referred to you?

We see a lot of children whose parents have a worry about the child's eyes and have seen their GP or health visitor, or maybe they've had an eye test at school and there is a concern about the child's eyes. We also see patients who have come into Accident and Emergency (A&E).

What problems do children have?

We see children who have something wrong with the way the eye moves; this might be a lazy eye or a squint when the eye turns. Or the patient might be having a problem like double vision. Sometimes the children who are referred to us have other problems and the eye problem is just a symptom of it. The children who come into A&E usually have had a head injury and our job is to check that their eyes haven't been affected by the bang on the head.

Do you always see patients in the hospital?

Not always. Sometimes if I just need to see a child to fit an eye patch or to monitor a problem I'll see the patient in the community. If the treatment for a child doesn't need to be in hospital then we really try to do it in the community.

Do you see patients on their own?

Adults, yes. In the case of children, I see them with their parents. Sometimes, though, a child may have to see several different professionals: as well as me there might be people from the visual support team who are based in schools.

In these cases we'll see the patient individually and then get together as a whole group. The whole group might include school teachers and any other professionals involved with the child. This process helps us to give the best treatment for the child.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

It's a really rewarding job. Not many people have heard of an orthoptist but the job has a lot of respect from other health professionals.

Someone might come into A&E and if you're the orthoptist on duty you'll be the only person who can be called upon to see the patient. That's a really great feeling, especially when you help the person and they go away well and happy.

Are there any challenges?

The only challenge really is that because I spend all my time with patients it can be hard to find the time to keep up with new research and development as well as the latest treatments.