Many blind and partially sighted people being denied support, charity says

Thousands of blind and partially sighted people are being denied their right to support after sight loss, a charity has said.

A new report by the sight-loss charity RNIB suggests people at all stages of sight loss are being let down by a forgotten, under-resourced social care service and patchwork provision of care.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request to local authorities in England indicates people with sight loss are being denied their right to rehabilitation services.

Vivienne Francis, RNIB’s chief social change officer, said: “By law, support must be provided through specialist vision rehabilitation services run by local councils or contracted out to third parties, but our FOI report shows the service is completely unregulated with a patchwork provision of care leaving people with sight loss falling through the cracks.”

In more than a quarter (26%) of local authorities, blind and partially sighted people wait more than a year for a vision rehabilitation assessment and subsequent support, the report called Out of Sight: The Hidden Scandal of Vision Rehabilitation Services Across England, found.

The RNIB says these delays leave people with sight loss at increased risk of physical accidents and injuries, as well as mental health crises.

Vision rehabilitation gives people new ways to stay independent and do things like the weekly shop and enjoy the hobbies they love.

Ms Francis, added: “We know that local authorities in England are struggling to cope with the rise in demand for vision rehabilitation services and to resource the service effectively.

“However, threadbare services mean that thousands of blind and partially sighted people wait often more than 12 months without the support they’re entitled to so they can live their lives to the full.

“This hidden social care injustice needs to be fixed – we’re calling on all UK political parties to commit to ensuring people with sight loss get the emotional and practical support they need when they need it.”

Terry Quinn, 59, from West Yorkshire, who has diabetic retinopathy and was registered as severely sight impaired in 2019, said he became a “shell” of his former self after this and found himself in despair.

“I have never felt so alone in my entire life.

“It was through a routine appointment with a wonderful lady at a local Low Vision clinic – she could see how I was struggling – asked me if I had spoken to anyone from the council at all – Vision Rehab services.

“I said ‘not at all’. She made several calls, and within a day or two, a Vision Rehabilitation Specialist called me. I cried my eyes out over the telephone with him, and he arranged to come see me at home.”

Mr Quinn said he was visited three times over a few months by the specialist who helped gave him some information, helped him get a travel pass and concessions and gave him a lesson at home on how to use a white cane to go up and down steps.

He added that he was taken outside once, and shown how to find a kerb, and that was literally it.

Mr Quinn said: “I couldn’t go on anymore, I would go to bed of an evening, hoping and praying that I would not wake in the morning.

“Then, as a last resort, I plucked up the courage to call Guide Dogs UK, after weeks of thinking about it.”

Mr Quinn said he got a Guide Dog that he loves, and that it has been a “life-changer”, giving him his independence back and even allowing him to travel again.

Councillor Kaya Comer-Schwartz, social care spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: “Adult social care services have faced chronic underfunding for many years, but councils do their best for communities with the resources they have.

“This report shows the impact of not having adequate funding, staffing or support needed to provide the services people required to live the lives they want and desire.”

“We welcomed the publication of the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s Eye Care Support Pathway, which sets out the need for wider support for those with sight loss.

“NHS England contributed to its development and has offered to support its dissemination to eyecare commissioners and providers.”