Plant and nurture projects
Background
As part of the Eyecare Services programme, RNIB was approached by the Department of Health to identify, plant and nurture 5 potential low vision sites and to bring them to a state of readiness. This is being conducted in conjunction with local health and care economies as well as other partners, such as local societies.
Selection of areas for low vision sites
It is important that the areas we selected to work with, present a wide variety of different issues and fill in some of the geographical “gaps” where there is no pilot or other provision of low vision services that comply with the Eyecare Services Low Vision Pathway .
The selection criteria for sites included looking at:
- Current service provision in the area
- Demographics of the local community
- Choice for service users
- Rural/urban issues
- Presence and influence of local organisations connected to sight loss, such as Low Vision Implementation Groups and local societies
All potential sites are expected to comply with the selection criteria for the present pilot sites, ie. user involvement, a multi-agency approach and commitment to continued funding the service at the end of the pilot period.
Project outcomes and benefits:
- Promote the development of local partnerships to demonstrate the added value benefits of working across the health, social care and voluntary sector, using a voluntary sector lead.
- Clarify and guide other voluntary sector organisations in ways of working with the statutory sector.
- Demonstrate the feasibility of setting up community based low vision services in a variety of settings and where the PCT has not been pro-active in this area of service delivery.
- Provide guidance for PCTs on setting up and developing accessible, patient focussed, integrated low vision services.
- Increase accessibility and choice of services for people with sight loss in areas where service delivery is currently poor.
- Explore new and innovative approaches to service delivery that are in line with the Eyecare pathways
- Fulfill the aims of the NHS Improvement plan and the NSF for Older People.
- Gain commitment from participating organisations to implement and sustain new approaches to the delivery of low vision services.
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