RNIB “A stitch in time saves nine”
Without doubt by far the best exhibition stand at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham last week was the one from the RNIB. They had created with great imagination and attention to detail a little old fashioned haberdashery shop. It was so realistic that at first I had mistook it for a real shop and was tempted browse and buy some yarn!
The attention to detail was carried through to the publicity material they were handing out. I was given a leaflet the cover of which had been designed in the style of an old knitting pattern with a rather familiar looking model!
The stand was there to promote their “A stitch in time saves nine” campaign. The serious point of this is that they say that “at least 50% of sight loss in the UK is avoidable if detected and treated early enough”. The failure to detect problems and carry out early intervention comes at a great cost, not only to the people who suffer with sight problems, but in resources to the NHS. So they are asking for greater investment in public health measures around sight loss.
For local government they want eye health to be recognised as a public health need in JSNAs and Health & Wellbeing Strategies. And for national government to include a specific indicator on eye health in the new NHS performance framework.
I thought their argument was persuasive and fits neatly with the emphasis on a shift to health prevention measures that the Liberal Democrats have long championed.
This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.