Press And Photo Call: UK Vision Strategy Launch Conference
Health professionals have joined professionals from the voluntary sector, social care and government as well as service users and individuals with experience of sight loss to launch to UK Vision Strategy. It is a major initiative to transform eye health and sight loss services in the UK.
The UK Vision Strategy aims to radically improve the eye health of the nation, eliminate avoidable sight loss, improve services to people with sight loss, and increase inclusion in society for blind and partially sighted people. Over 650 organisations and individuals have played a role in developing the Strategy - representing a powerful force for change. It is the first time all these groups have come together to create a wide reaching plan and health professionals have been at the heart of its development.
Jo Webber, Deputy Policy director of the NHS Confederation, which represents 95 percent of NHS organisations, is on the Strategic Advisory Group leading the Strategy. She says: "This Strategy is an impressive piece of work and it provides a coherent way forward for improving and maintaining proper eye care. It is especially positive that the draft strategy thoroughly canvassed the views of all interested parties and then put this together to give a comprehensive overview of what can be done to improve optical care. The result is a comprehensive document that everyone involved in health management and policy - from a national to a local level - can get to grips with."
Eye health must be a public health priority given the ageing population and increasing demand on service. Health service providers, particularly within the NHS, must prioritise eye health at both national and local levels, and there is an economic case for intervention. Low awareness of eye health, along with a failure to invest in early detection and treatment of eye conditions, means increased spending on health, social care, education and training to support people in the later stages of eye disease.
Lesley-Anne Alexander, Chief Executive of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), chaired the strategic advisory group that led the development of the UK Vision strategy. She says: "Many people fail to understand the impact of their lifestyles and health conditions on their sight and there is limited public health information to help. Too many people are living with sight loss that could have been avoided and those who have lost their sight do not receive the support they need to enable them to deal with the emotional trauma of sight loss or manage basic every day tasks. Now the sector has come together and developed a bold framework to transform the eye health of the nation and the lives of blind and partially sighted people."
Service managers, eye health specialists and GPs were just some of the health professionals involved in the development of the Strategy, which calls for the commissioning of fully integrated and effective eye care and sight loss services, including low vision services. This should ensure the integration of primary and secondary eye care, which is a way to achieve the most effective, timely and accessible services and treatments for each individual, and the best use of community and hospital resources. Services should be person-centred and create seamless pathways through health, social care and the voluntary sector.
Nick Astbury, Consultant Ophthalmologist and member of the Strategic Advisory Group says: "Planning in local primary care services needs to include eye health professionals, in conjunction with Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts. The UK Vision Strategy marks a new chapter for people across the eye health and sight loss sector to work together in this way, for the common goal of preventing avoidable sight loss, raising awareness and providing a service of which we can all be proud."
Increased investment in public awareness campaigns and emotional support, including counselling, for people diagnosed with conditions leading to blindness, are just two of the recommendations of the UK Vision Strategy. It also calls for research to focus on improving understanding of the nature and distribution of sight loss, diagnosis, the prevention and cure of blindness, the optimisation of services for people with sight loss, and the development and validation of new treatments for sight threatening and correctable conditions.
Partnerships with organisations across the sector are also encouraged to increase understanding and co-operation on areas of common concern such as diabetes, stroke, or the needs of older people.
To find out more about the Strategy visit http://www.rnib.org.uk/ukvisionstrategy or http://www.vision2020uk.org.uk.
Notes
1. The UK Vision Strategy is a Vision 2020 initiative, led by RNIB, to develop a unified plan for action on all issues relating to eye health and sight loss across the four countries of the UK. The strategy was developed in response to a World Health Assembly resolution in 2003, which urged the development of national plans to tackle sight loss.
2. Members of the Strategic Advisory Group leading the development of the Strategy:
- Lesley-Anne Alexander, chief executive, RNIB, Chair of the Strategic Advisory Group
- Nick Astbury, consultant ophthalmologist/The Royal College of Ophthalmologists
- Rosie Auld, chairman, British and Irish Orthoptic Society
- Mike Brace OBE, chief executive, VISION2020 UK
- Anne Bristow, corporate director of adult and community services, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Policy lead on Sensory Impairment for ADASS
- Bob Hughes, Eye Health Alliance/chief executive, Association of Optometrists
- Stephen Remington, chief executive, Action for Blind People
- Malcolm Swinburn, former chair, National Association of Local Societies for Visually Impaired People (NALSVI)
- Bridget Warr, chief executive, Guide Dogs
- Jo Webber, deputy policy director, NHS Confederation Observers
- David Lye, Head of Dentistry and Eye Care Services, Department of Health
- Steve Whittaker, Optometric Adviser, Scottish Executive
- Gerry Lynch, Welsh Assembly
- Charlie Bamford, Social Services Officer, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland
http://www.rnib.org.uk
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