In the UK, over 2 million live with sight loss. This sight loss is severe enough to have a significant impact on their daily lives and the number is only going up, estimated to double to over 4 million people by 2050. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has been working for over 155 years, with the purpose of building the perfect country for everybody with sight loss.
Understanding of sight loss and the impact it has should be an integral part of all Health and Social Care training. It is not only important for those supporting individuals with sight loss but is vitally for anyone supporting individuals with complex needs. Adults with learning disabilities are 10 times more likely to experience sight loss than the general population. In addition, there is a higher prevalence of sight loss in people living with dementia, especially those living in care homes. Sadly however, sight loss in individuals with complex needs is often missed and the consequence of sight loss, such as changes in behaviour, are instead attributed to their additional needs.
RNIB’s Health and Social Care Training team design and deliver training courses and resources to support and upskill health and social care professionals. This training should be seen as an essential part of any staff team’s training and induction to ensure care teams of the future are developed to cope with the growing complexity of need for people they support.
In order to meet the needs of this time pressed sector, we recognise that training can no longer be solely delivered face to face, that learning needs to be flexible and that the length of sessions requires careful consideration. For this reason, we have worked to expand our training offer to ensure there is something for everyone. In addition to bespoke half day and full day training for organisations, we now offer free 30-minute taster sessions for individuals via the Eventbrite platform, or half day in depth courses tailored to specific subjects. We have also worked on expanding our online self-study courses and are always happy to talk through the best training options to suit you.
To find out any further information or discuss your teams training needs contact the team at: HSCSdevelopmentteam@rnib.org.uk
Author: Winnie Smith, Training and Development Manager
