Fight for Sight launches survey to determine how continued lockdown restrictions are impacting people with eye conditions


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YE RESEARCH CHARITY Fight for Sight has launched a survey to gather broader insights into how continued lockdown restrictions are


affecting people with sight loss and eye conditions. This survey is a follow-up to the charity’s research in


May, which found that the pandemic is having a disproportionate effect on people with eye conditions, with 73% of respondents saying their access to treatment had got worse since the beginning of the pandemic. Four in ten people said they feared their eyesight had or would further deteriorate as a result. Fight for Sight is inviting those affected by sight loss or an eye condition to participate in the survey, to help it to continue to campaign on behalf of people with sight loss and strengthen the case for urgently needed eye research funding. To take part in the survey, you must be aged 18 or


over, living in the UK, and personally have an eye condition(s).


There are currently over two million people in the UK living with sight loss, more than half of which is avoidable. According to Fight for Sight’s Time to Focus report, which was released in September, this number will jump to 3.5 million by 2050. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, eye research was already woefully underfunded, with only one and a half percent of national research funding invested in eye research. That’s in spite of the fact that eye conditions account for ten percent of all hospital outpatient appointments – the largest of any specialty. Director of Engagement at Fight for Sight, Sarah Campion said: “This is a challenging time for everyone, but we know from our research that the current pandemic and lockdown is having a particularly harsh effect on those living with eye conditions and sight loss. We need the input of those affected so that we can understand how lockdown restrictions are continuing to impact them as we head into 2021 and determine how best to campaign on their behalf.”


Take the survey at - www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BH6PT2R or by visiting Fight for Sight’s website at www.fightforsight.org.uk.


Ambient Support’s Caring Heroes Celebrated in National Care Forum’s ‘Caring in Covid’ Book


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ARE PROVIDERS across the UK have played a vital role throughout the Covid pandemic, caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. The National Care Forum (NCF), the leading membership association for not- for-profit social care providers, bore witness to incredible acts from its members and decided to record and celebrate their response to the outbreak and ensuing restrictions by bringing together a collection of wonderful stories in a Caring in Covid book.


National Charity Ambient Support,


who provides care in a number of settings, contributed three stories in total- one acknowledging their very own CEO, Mark Milton, for his outstanding leadership and support to the entire team. Ambient Support’s Activities Coordinator, Stevie


Housley, from Ambient Support’s Gardenia House Care Home in Dartford, featured in the book. Stevie raised £1,350 dying her hair waist-long hair the colours of the rainbow which raised money to improve the lives of the residents she supports.


The moving experiences and resilience of manager, 10


Louise Foyle-York and her care team during two phases of Covid outbreaks at The Croft care home in Amersham are also highly commended in the book. The team’s upmost determination, commitment and unwavering passion, at the very hardest of times, demonstrates just how important the role of the care worker is and how good quality care is truly indispensable. Vic Rayner, Executive Director of the


National Care Forum said: “Through the collection of Caring Heroes stories, the reader peeks behind the closed doors and experiences what it was really like for care staff, residents in care homes, and people needing support in their own homes during lockdown. This book is more than just a nod to social history, it


demonstrates how people’s lives are enriched by the role of those working in the care sector through their creativity, dedication and passion, and through their many skills and talents.”


Read the inspiring stories from Ambient Support


(www.ambient.org.uk) and other providers in the NCF’s Caring in Covid book at www.nationalcareforum.org.uk/ ncf-caring-in-covid-project/.


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