NHS spending on sight injuries 10 times prevention and support

The NHS is spending 10 times more money on treating sight
related injuries than on prevention and independent-living support
for blind and partially sighted people, according to a new
report.

The report, ‘Improving Lives – Priorities in Health and
Social Care for Blind and Partially Sighted People’, has been
published by a coalition of organisations led by the Royal National
Institute for the Blind (Scotland) and the National Association of
Local Societies for Visually Impaired People.

Mike Cairns, director of RNIB Scotland, said: “If you are among
the 87,000 blind or partially sighted people in Scotland today, the
level and quality of the help you receive depends on where you live
– it is a lottery.”

Among other findings, the report concluded that nine out of 10
blind and partially sighted people are living on an income of less
than half the national average. Six in 10 never leave the house
unaccompanied yet most do not receive adequate mobility training.
Two in three blind or partially sighted older people are not
registered with social services.

While RNIB Scotland welcomed the Scottish executive’s
commitment to improving community care they concluded that services
for blind and partially sighted people were still being neglected.
Cairns said: “We remain very concerned, however, that help for
blind and partially sighted people is significantly
under-resourced.”

Copies of the report from RNIB customer services – 08457
023153. Click here
for RNIB Scotland website.