The Help & Advice Desk at the Eye Unit, Royal Bournemouth Hospital

The name says it all - help where and when it is needed most! The need for a “help desk” has long been acknowledged by both the staff of the Bournemouth Eye Unit and the Dorset Blind Association as a way of providing people who are newly diagnosed with severe sight loss, or see their condition worsening, with immediate information and support of a non-medical nature.

Help is offered when people and their families are at their most vulnerable and just the opportunity to speak to someone like Tiffany Deacon - our Eye Clinic Support Officer, who herself is visually impaired - can be very reassuring when adjusting to a new and frightening situation. An additional benefit is that time does not become an issue as it must with the excellent, willing but busy NHS staff.

There is an opportunity to discuss concerns about the impact of sight loss on the person’s life and on their family as well as ways to make adjustments. Information about the services provided through Social Services, the Dorset Blind Association, the Bournemouth Society for the Visually Impaired, the RNIB and other charities is freely given without charge or expectation of involvement. The same help is available to people who are being treated as inpatients at the hospital with a bedside visit from our Eye Clinic Support Officer.

The DBA could not have brought this service into being without the support and involvement of the Bournemouth Eye Unit, the Friends of the Bournemouth Eye Unit, and others in the community. It is our hope that we will be able to secure funding to continue the service beyond the next year and to extend it to other areas of the County.

                

Picture provided by Simon Dukes
Official opening of Help & Advice Desk on 31st July 2009.