May 27, 2011 3.10 pm This story is over 154 months old

New support for people suffering sight loss

Sight support: Patients in Lincoln diagnosed with sight loss will now get additional support and advice.

Patients in Lincoln who are diagnosed with sight loss will now get additional support and advice from Lincoln County Hospital.

The eye clinic is setting up an Eye Clinic Liaison Officer service with the help of the Lincoln and Lindsey Blind Society.

The new service, which will be up and running June 6, will see three Sight Impairment Officers offering support to people with newly diagnosed sight loss and giving them opportunities to discuss the impact such as help with rehabilitation and mobility.

Consultant Ophthalmologist Paul Tesha says the new service will be a better way to support patients: “The aim of this is to provide better services to people with sight loss at the point of diagnosis.”

The service has already been piloted at the hospital and from the reaction they had Tesha says “it demonstrated that there was a huge demand for this kind of support”.

Tesha added: “The officers have excellent local knowledge of services for the visually impaired and link to other voluntary sector service provision locally, regionally and nationally.

“Our patients really will benefit from this additional support.”

Source: ULHT | Photo: David Stillman