Visual impairment

We have been seeking your views to help shape how services will be offered to people with sight loss in Sandwell in the future.

Sandwell Council worked with SVI (Sandwell Visually Impaired) an organisation run by visually impaired people, to develop a vision strategy for Sandwell.

Sandwell's new vision strategy will shape the future for vision services in Sandwell.

In producing it, we sought the views of people and organisations in Sandwell. This included people with and without sight problems.

The strategy looks at what services are available now in Sandwell, and what is missing.

It aims to:

• improve the eye health of the people living in Sandwell
• eliminate avoidable sight loss and deliver excellent support to those people with a sight problem
• enhance the inclusion, participation and independence of blind and partially sighted people.

It looks at what we need to do to:

• promote eye health and prevent sight loss
• make eye health and related services, and information about them, accessible to all
• minimise the barriers that people with sight loss face in taking part in the community, for example employment, leisure and cultural activities
• improve the way we deliver eye health services
• develop new and build on existing specialist services.

 Find out more about our plans. Read the 2011 Vision Strategy for Sandwell. A plain text version of the strategy is also available (rtf format). If you would like the strategy in another format, for example braille or on audio CD please contact the People Communications team on 0121 569 5729.

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to get involved in the consultation and fill in the questionnaires.