Local Assembly Member Carwyn Jones visited the Princess of Wales hospital, as part of the official launch of the Eye Clinic Liaison service in the hospital's eye clinic.
Every day in Wales, five people start to lose their sight. Despite well documented links with social exclusion, depression and suicide, many patients leave the hospital eye clinic on the day of their diagnosis with no emotional support to help them to come to terms with their sight loss.
Now, thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, RNIB Cymru has expanded its Eye Clinic Liaison service. The service has already been running in some areas for a number of years, offering emotional support and practical help to people at the point of diagnosis, but the additional funding has enabled the charity to offer the service Wales-wide, including at the eye clinic at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.
Bridgend Assembly Member Carwyn Jones said: "I am very pleased to be at the Princess of Wales Hospital for the launch of this new service for people with sight loss. It is important to provide services that are holistic and support individuals with the personal impact of their sight loss and also to support clinicians who want the best possible outcomes for service users. No doubt this will prove to be a vital component of the eye care service. "
Ceri Jackson, Head of Eye Clinic Support Services at RNIB Cymru, said: "For many people, the day they're told they're going to lose their sight is the loneliest day of their lives. The expansion of this vital service means that for thousands more people, from all parts of Wales, there will be someone there for them on that day: someone to talk to, someone to answer their questions and concerns, someone to help them access all the services and benefits they may need.
"We know that older people with sight loss are almost three times more likely to experience depression than people with good vision, 70 per cent of people registered blind or partially sighted are under-claiming benefits, with many consequently living in unnecessary poverty, and that by 2050 the number of people with sight loss in the UK is predicted to double. All this is putting enormous strain on already over-stretched eye clinics, so the expansion of this valued and valuable ECLO service could not be more timely."
In Bridgend, the service has been developed in partnership with BridgeVis, a local society for people with sight loss. Julie Thomas from BridgeVis said: "This service is something that I welcome both as Chairperson of BridgeVis and on a personal level. When I lost my sight three and a half years ago, I experienced a severe sense of loss and had no idea where to turn for support or advice. It made me realize what a massive gap in provision there was. Now we have an ECLO to bridge that gap, I feel confident that people will not have to experience the loneliness and isolation I did upon diagnosis. The fact that they can signpost people on to a local society like BridgeVis, so they can meet people and share experiences, will help make a real difference".
Jayne Morris from Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board added: "We are grateful for the help and support RNIB Cymru and BridgeVis has shown in facilitating the ECLO service for us at the Princess of Wales Hospital. Patients from Bridgend can now benefit from this extremely valuable service, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our voluntary sector partners as the service develops".