Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve the integration of services between secondary and social care settings to ensure a seamless route into vision rehabilitation.

The Department understands the importance of having effective rehabilitation services available when people need them to help them recover and return to their day-to-day activities and regain their quality of life.

People who have sight loss to the degree they are certified as blind or partially sighted will receive a certificate of visual impairment (CVI). With the patient’s permission the CVI form is shared with a person’s local authority to help facilitate access to social care support. In accordance with the Care and support statutory guidance, local authorities should offer to carry out a needs assessment with a view to providing a care and support plan aimed at meeting any identified needs. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-statutory-guidance/care-and-support-statutory-guidance

Statutory integrated care systems are partnerships of organisations which come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services. An integrated approach to person-centred care can enable a seamless route for patients coming out of hospital into social care. This helps to make sure people get the right support from health and social care services to return home as soon as possible, including patients requiring vision rehabilitation.