About the conference
The conference was held in partnership with Visionary, at York University on the 4th October 2012. A total of 56 delegates attended representing 27 different organisations, and included ECLO's, Patient support workers, Orthoptists, Family support co-ordinators, Visual Impairment Officer, Staff Nurses, Rehabilitation Officers, Community Support Workers, Low Vision Services Managers and Chief Executives.
Key presentations
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Welcome: Stephen Remington, CEO, Action for Blind People
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Key note speech: Derek Rix, Head of Operations, Action for Blind People. This session emphasised the importance of partnership working, developing social enterprises, and shared the ten outcomes of the 'Seeing it my Way' initiative.
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Emotional and practical support in the eye clinic - where are we now? Stevie Johnson, Eye Clinic Impact Team Manager, RNIB. This session provided an update on the national Early Reach picture, highlighting the ECLO register, newly developed professional networks for those working within eye clinics and an update on the latest research including - "The Certification and Registration Processes: Stages, barriers and delays" highlighting the role ECLO's play in these processes.
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Shaping the future of the UK Vision Strategy: Jenny Pearce, Chief Executive, VISTA. Find out how you can get involved in this important piece of feedback to refresh the strategy at www.vision2020uk.org.uk/ukvisionstrategy
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Medications and other health conditions and their affect on vision: Dr Richard Hanson, Consultant Ophthalmologist, York Hospital. This session described various medications that can affect vision including those used in psychiatry, dermatology, cardiology and oncology and the impact of the ECLO service in his area.
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The ECLO experience: Vanessa Camp, ECLO, York Blind and Partially Sight Society, York Hospital. A powering and inspiring session about overcoming the challenges of integrating into an eye clinic and the value of the role. Three service users also shared their stories with the audience, explaining the impact of the ECLO service on their personal journeys.
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Expanding the service - The Welsh story: John Tucker, ECLO Manager from South Wales, RNIB. Offering a model for shaping services, this session looked at how funding from the Big Lottery had helped to shape ECLO services, and plans for the future in Wales.
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Campaigns and the ECLO: Tracy Dearing, Campaigns Officer - Yorkshire and Humber, RNIB. An opportunity to learn about current RNIB local and national campaigns, and how these can support ECLO's in improving provision for blind and partially sighted people in their local area.
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'Barriers and Solutions to enable people who have a learning disability to access eye care': Laura Christie, Eye 2 Eye Manager, Yorkshire and Humber, and Scott Watkin, Ambassador for Eye 2 Eye, SeeAbility. An emotive session looking at the resources available to eye care staff, as well as a video highlighting the needs of people with learning difficulties.
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Summing up and closing comments: Philippa Simkiss, Head of Evidence and Service Impact, RNIB. This session helped us to gather our thoughts, and highlighted the importance of the new 'reducing avoidable sight loss' Public Health Indicator, and how important this will be in raising the profile of sight loss as a major public health issue.
Further information
At a time when local authority services and budgets for blind and partially sighted people are under increasing pressure, the importance of bringing together professionals for shared professional development is greater than ever. Find out more about our professional events and network opportunities.
For further information about the conference or to find out more about support for staff working in eye clinics across the UK, visit our Eye Clinic Staff web pages or email ECLOeditor@rnib.org.uk