6.3. Improving the experience of people with sight loss

An average practice will have around 150–200 patients with significant sight loss. Service improvement needs for patients with sight loss have been consistently identified in the UK. There are simple practical approaches to improving the experience of these patients, many focused on staff awareness and the patient journey. This section should be read together with section 6.2 ‘Improving the experience of people with hearing loss’ since many of the issues, tips and suggested improvements apply across both groups.

The challenge

GP practices are providing primary care services for 309,300 blind and partially sighted patients.3 If we include patients with significant sight loss, this number increases towards 2 million.⁴

The needs of patients with sight loss have been identified through several surveys and studies conducted in a range of general practices across the UK.5,6 The two surveys referenced in this guide were made in 2005 and 2009, four years apart – and with exactly the same issues identified in each. Clearly, there is still scope for improvement. There are some simple and very low-cost approaches that a practice can consider in order to deliver worthwhile improvement in patient experience.

Making a difference

There is a great consistency in the messages and conclusions of patient surveys. In the context of this guide, they indicate three areas of opportunity to improve the patient experience:

• improving the experience of attending the practice
• improving the experience of the consultation
• needs of the patient with sight loss outside the consulting room. These improvement needs are from the perspective of the patient with sight loss.

Practices will want to re-frame these improvement needs in order to plan and take practical steps towards addressing them. This re-framing process translates these three areas for improvement into four areas of potential activity through which practices may deliver the improvement:

• staff awareness
• information and communication
• physical environment
• using information to deliver a personalised experience.

3 NHS Information Centre, People Registered as Blind and Partially Sighted 2008 England
4 R. Tate et al The prevalence of visual impairment in the UK (2005), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
5 GP Access and Responsiveness Project for Severely Sight Impaired and Sight Impaired People (2009), Action for Blind People
6 Enhancing Care Provision for Blind and Partially Sighted peoplein GP surgeries (2005), The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association