Sight Scotland's Story

Sight Scotland are a national charity providing support, care & education for vision impaired people of all ages in Scotland. We are grateful for their support and funding of the SCONe project.

How does sight loss affect the people your organisation supports?

Sight Scotland supports people affected by sight loss at every stage of life. Our education services support blind and partially sighted pupils. We provide a transition residential care service for young adults with visual impairment and complex needs. The Scottish Braille Press provides accessible publications and supported employment for visually impaired people. Our sister charity Sight Scotland Veterans supports many older veterans and our community services not only help people affected by sight loss in later life but also provide support for family members. Together, we form Scotland’s biggest third sector visual impairment organisation. Sight loss has multiple impacts for blind and partially sighted people. It can affect attainment in education, only one in four visually impaired people of working age are in employment, and sight loss in later life means people have to learn new skills to live independently. We work with blind and partially sighted people so they can live well with visual impairment, but we also want to reduce the number of people affected by sight loss in the future so that fewer people have to cope with its impact.

Why did your organisation decide to support SCONe?

Sight Scotland decided to support SCONe because we believe harnessing the data provided by ever more efficient and detailed eye scanning technology has huge potential for patient benefit. We are aware that deploying patient data in this way is already helping develop new, more efficient approaches to diagnosis, and has the potential to support clinical trials and the development of new treatments in the future. The rapidly expanding availability of OCT scans in community optometrists brings the potential for more data, and more sophisticated images, to be deployed for research, and it is vital this can be achieved safely and securely. Developing the infrastructure and technology which can share these scans between high street opticians and medical researchers while securing the confidentially of patient data is vital to develop this area of research activity. We believe SCONe has a crucial role in developing the links and technology to take this research forward and ensure Scotland has a leading role in its future.

How do you think your service users might benefit from the SCONe project and advances in retinal imaging technologies?

We already know that data research can develop new approaches to diagnosis which mean that patients can be diagnosed more quickly, accurately and prioritised effectively for treatment. At a time when our NHS services are under more pressure than ever before as a result of Covid, and waiting times for ophthalmology lengthening significantly, making most effective use of valuable resources in eye health services is vital. This can alleviate pressure on NHS services and offers the potential to reduce waiting times for treatment. We know that for many eye conditions it is essential they are treated quickly to secure the best outcome for the patient, so reducing waits for treatment will be of huge benefit to people who use our services. Ennabling eye health data to be deployed in a way which supports clinical trials offers the potential for future development of new treatments for eye conditions. This will be transformation for the lives of people who will retain vision they would otherwise have lost and brings wider societal benefits too. With the number of people in Scotland living with sight loss forecast to increase significantly in the coming years, this makes the work of SCONe all the more important. Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans will always be there to support people with sight loss, but our ambition is also to ensure more people can have good eye health in the future.