Connect and Collaborate Award 2024
RNIB logo – See differently.
Sponsored by RNIB
The Connect and Collaborate Award, sponsored by RNIB, celebrates partnerships that have transformed services, trialled a new idea, or collaborated in new, ground breaking and innovative ways to connect with blind and partially sighted people or those at risk of sight loss.
Through this award, we seek to recognise Visionary members and partners who have harnessed the power of collaboration to bridge gaps, forge meaningful connections, and deliver impactful solutions. Whether it’s through leveraging cutting-edge technologies, establishing cross-organisational or sector alliances, or co-creating accessible resources, these collaborative efforts have redefined the landscape of vision-related services.
The nominees are:
- Essex Sensory Partnership
- Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans
- Southampton Sight
- Vision Partnership
Below, is a summary from each of the shortlisted nominees of their work and why they would like you to vote for them. We hope you enjoy reading their submissions as much as the panel did.
Essex Sensory Partnership
Over the past two years the Essex Vision partners; Support 4 Sight, Essex Sight and BASIS, have been working with Essex County Council and the wider Essex Sensory Partnership on an innovative redesign of sensory service delivery.
The purpose of this is to address the current sensory rehabilitation crisis, eliminate waiting lists for assessment and service provision, and produce a cohesive, effective, future fit and accessible service for blind and partially sighted people across the county.
The new Sensory Service was launched on 1st November 2023.
Under this new commission the 3 sight loss charities in Essex (excluding Southend In Sight due to local authority boundaries) are now delivering assessments for blind and partially sighted people on behalf of Essex County Council.
This new assessment route, together with fully funded information, advice and guidance (IAG) services, swiftly identifies each person’s needs and facilitates immediate access to in-house support from each of the partners. An agile triage system provides a fluid route to the Sensory Impairment Team, at Essex Cares Ltd, for specialist rehabilitation services where needed.
A similar route is in place for people with hearing loss, via Hearing Help Essex.
Now, nine months into this new service, waiting lists have been reduced and a joined-up pathway is in place.
By recognising and utilising the specialisms of each organisation and bringing them together as delivery partners, duplication is reduced and each recipient receives support in the right place, at the right time, for them.
Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans
Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans’ policy group launched in July 2022 as a space for people with lived experience of visual impairment to share their experiences and inform our campaigns. Our policy group members are at the heart of the group; you can hear about the difference it has made in their own words:
“First of all being asked to be co-chair on the new Sight Scotland policy group was a privilege, but after two years, to see the group grow, witnessing everyone feeling that their life experiences, views, and ideas are listened to, actions taken in the correct manner, not sighted members of staff speaking for us, but us speaking for ourselves, and the sense of self-confidence and achievement this has produced is something that more organisations should implement.” – Colette Walker
“The policy group has had a major impact on myself and my daughter as I now have the motivation and determination to make change and get up and go, life goes on after a sight loss diagnosis but it took me a while to come to terms with that.
The policy group and Sight Scotland are a force to be reckoned with who shape and mould visually impaired people’s lives every day one policy at a time. Being a part of the policy group has made me feel empowered and changed my life for the better, cut me open and where my heart is there now is a sight Scotland logo.” – Amanda Whitfield
Southampton Sight
For those living with sight loss, the journey from dependency to independence is a journey of many steps. Embedding conscientious support networks within the backbone of the NHS, Southampton Sight’s ‘Sight Loss Nurse Advisor’ (SLNA) program unites the disparate arms of the medical and social models of care by breaking down barriers, empowering and promoting self-advocacy, self-reliance, and independence.
Since it’s inauguration in 2022, and showcased at both the Copenhagen and Belfast ‘International Forum on Quality and Safety In Healthcare’ in 2023 and 2024 respectively, the program has to date trained 11 Nurses and optometrists from frontline services including paediatrics and neurology. To date some 700+ patients have been seen by the SLNA team, providing support, advice and information on the spot, with over 450 of those seen having been referred for more targeted, tailored ongoing help via community support through referral partners.
An authentic partnership between the medical and social sector overseen by a steering group consisting of a lead consultant ophthalmologist, eye unit matron, senior sister, two local charities – Southampton Sight and Open Sight – and both Southampton and Hampshire local authority services, the SLNA project was created around the need for better understanding and empathy, patient empowerment and collaboration. Streamlined to ensure the early intervention and ongoing support necessary to help the newly diagnosed and long-term sight impaired alike, drawing on lived experience the program has been developed, initiated and run at all points by the VI community.
Visionary Winner 2024 Icon
Vision Partnership
In April 2024, the Vision Partnership held its first Lived Experience (LEx) Leadership Conference “Confidence, Connection, Action”. The conference brought together 100 blind and partially sighted colleagues from 31 organisations from across the sight loss sector to develop talent, build connections and provide inspiration.
The event was organised and delivered by a dedicated group of staff with lived experience, drawn from charities across the sector. The working group included staff from Gude Dogs, RNIB, TPT and Visionary.
The conference was funded and resourced by members of the Vision Partnership through an innovative combination of direct funding and in-kind staff support. This collaborative approach enabled all partners to participate and play to their strengths. The working group drew extensively on Visionary’s experience of running their excellent annual conference.
The collaborative resourcing model was based on the principle of enabling local sight loss organisations to be able to send delegates. Priority for places was given to Visionary members and funding for travel costs was also made available to remove barriers for smaller organisations to participate.
The conference included a networking dinner, keynote speech by Claire Burgess, CEO of Sight for Surrey, panel discussions and workshops delivered jointly by members of the cross-sector organising team.
The conference exceeded all expectations with 95% of respondents to the post conference evaluation saying they would recommend the conference to VI colleagues. Over half of the delegates present at the conference volunteered to be involved in the sector’s future work around Lived Experience Leadership.
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