Barking & Dagenham / Havering Low Vision Services Pilot
End of project conclusion and recommendations
In many respects the pilot has been a success:
- For the first time in the two Boroughs, it established a new low vision service located directly in the community, in an accessible, multi-disciplinary environment;
- It provided an integrated, streamlined service that combined optometric and rehabilitation services at times convenient to the users, and where appropriate, provided follow-up and domiciliary visits for clients who were unable to attend the resource centre;
- It provided an integrated, streamlined service that combined optometric and rehabilitation services at times convenient to the users, and where appropriate, provided follow-up and domiciliary visits for clients who were unable to attend the resource centre;
- It encouraged strategic working across the social and health care sectors, and between two neighbouring Boroughs and two Primary Care Trusts;
- Waiting times fell and the number of people seen gradually increased through the life of the pilot. This compared favourably to previous waiting times at the local hospital’s eye clinic;
- Based on the findings from the surveys, most users were very satisfied with the service they received.
Limitations and obstacles included:
- The delay in refurbishing the Yew Tree Resource Centre to accommodate the new service, and recruiting new staff impacted negatively on the initial delivery and timing of the project;
- This was not helped by the change in project managers and high turnover of Project Board members who managed the project during its lifetime;
- The inability to identify an outreach site in Barking and Dagenham may have affected the number of potential clients from that Borough;
- Referrals from local Primary Care practitioners were lower than expected, especially when compared to social services;
- The uncertainties around future funding for the service inevitably affected how the service was provided and any ongoing service planned in the final months of the pilot.
Recommendations for future action
- It is important that a decision is made soon as to whether the pilot service should be mainstreamed and extended, so that the benefits and good practice of the pilot are not lost.
- There are clear benefits to delivering the service jointly between the two Boroughs, for example in terms of savings resulting from sharing costs and recruitment and retention of staff.
- The service should be more widely promoted to local Acute Trusts and Primary Care Trusts in order to increase the number of referrals from that source.
- Communications in local community languages was recommended by one client. This would encourage greater uptake from black and other ethnic minority groups.
- Ways of engaging colleagues from the local acute trust in the project should also be considered. This may help to address elements of ‘competition’ that might exist between the two service providers.
- It would be helpful if future research could be undertaken to measure the reduction in admissions to hospital through the intervention of the low vision services. This would not only cover admissions to existing eye clinics in hospitals but also admissions to hospitals for other reasons including falls, domestic accidents and depression.
January 2007