English local authorities can hit national performance targets
by improving services for visually impaired adults, according to a
guide published by the Royal National Institute of Blind
People.
'
Good practice in sight', which has been endorsed by the
Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and care services
minister Ivan Lewis, links improvements for people with sight loss
to performance against targets including the 198 national
indicators on which all authorities are judged.
The guide sets benchmarks for nine areas of service - emotional
support, referral, information and advice, assessment, equipment,
training, user involvement, complaints and inter-agency
working.
For instance, the emotional support benchmark calls for service
users to adjust positively to sight loss and for levels of
depression among blind and partially-sighted people to be "reduced
significantly". The guide says success against this benchmark will
contribute to national indicators on improving people's
self-reported level of health and well-being and supporting people
with long-term conditions to be independent.
Updates 2002 guide
The guide updates the 2002 Association of Directors of Social
Services guidance Progress in sight, which it says no
longer reflects the current performance framework.
It is also designed to help meet two of the three objectives in
the RNIB-led UK vision strategy, published in April - eliminating
avoidable sight loss and delivering excellent support for people
with sight loss; and promoting inclusion, participation and
independence for people with sight loss.
The RNIB said that "good services that meet the needs of blind
and partially sighted adults" can be delivered within tight budgets
and current eligibility criteria.
The charity said that many more visually impaired people should
be meeting critical and substantial eligibility thresholds, which
apply in almost three-quarters of councils, under the Department of
Health's
fair access to care services guidelines. However, it added that
needs arising from sensory loss often went unnoticed or
underestimated by practitioners.
Personalisation
The RNIB said the guide would also help councils deliver on the
Department of Health's agenda to personalise social care over the
next three years through the roll-out of personal budgets and
expansion of direct payments and self-assessment.
Two million people in the UK are living with sight loss and by
the age of 60, one person in 12 can expect to have some degree of
sight loss, according to RNIB figures. Despite the high
and rising number of eligible people, new registrations with local
authorities have dropped significantly and under-registration
overall may be as high as 20%.
Related articles
RNIB-led UK vision strategy urges social care improvements
Expert guide to personalisation
News analysis on new guidelines on fair access to care