This year we'll be attending the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences throughout the end of September and start of October.
In Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester we'll be using an interactive stand to engage policy makers of all levels on the need for early intervention to tackle avoidable sight loss.
A stitch in time saves nine
Our stand this year will be entitled "a stitch in time saves nine" and using the theme of an old haberdashery shop we'll be telling politicians, councillors and party members that at least 50% of sight loss in the UK is avoidable if detected and treated early enough.
Our other key messages:
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Regular sight tests (normally every two years for adults of working age) pick up early signs of eye disease and save sight.
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Sight loss currently costs the UK economy more than £6 billion per year. £2 billion is spent on direct costs (optometry services, treatment of eye disease and falls) and £4 billion on indirect costs (primarily informal care and lower employment).
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'Spend Now to Save Later' by ensuring treatments are available as soon as they are needed and appropriate resource is invested in public health messages around sight loss. Reducing unnecessary sight loss makes common sense for both national and local government.
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There is strong and growing evidence of capacity issues in eye hospitals leading to delays in treatment of AMD, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and cataracts. These need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
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Eye health should be recognised as a public health need in Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and in Health and Wellbeing Strategies.
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There needs to be a specific Indicator around eye health in the new NHS performance framework.
RNIB stand wins awards at both Liberal Democrat's and Labour's Party Conferences
Our Stitch in Time stand was awarded "Stand that best gets its message across" at the Liberal Democrat's conference in Birmingham and "delegates choice best stand" at Labour's conference in Liverpool.
Over the course of the conferences we were visited by Nick Clegg and many other delegates, who we were able to engage in our campaigning messages.
Further information
For further information on our work at the party conferences or our campaigns to end avoidable sight loss, please contact the campaigns team on 020 7391 2123 or email campaigns@rnib.org.uk
We'll also be tweeting live from our conference stand so don't forget to follow us on twitter.