Thank you; you can open your eyes now. The sounds you’ve just heard are sounds that blind and partially sighted people hear on a daily basis. Without sight, as you can imagine, these noises can be very disconcerting. I recently undertook a blindfolded walk with Monmouth Visually Impaired Club, and my experiences were nothing short of profound. The walk from the Monnow bridge to the top of town is normally straightforward, but, with a blindfold, everything was different. After a short space of time, I was disorientated and completely dependent on the people around me for support. The traffic noise was bewildering, and retailers’ A-boards compounded the dangerous complexity of this new obstacle course, as did the plethora of mismatched pavement and road surfaces. In short, it was one hell of an eye-opener, if that’s the right expression. Of course, I was able to remove my blindfold once we’d reached the relative safety of the Punch House tavern at the end of my journey, but it left me thinking, ‘What about my new friends who don’t have this luxury?’

The reason for this debate is that this week is National Eye Health Week. Lots of events are taking place across the country to raise awareness of the importance of eye health and having an eye test. I believe the Minister for Social Services and Public Health had her own eyes tested recently, but still one in 10 people do not get their eyes tested on a regular basis. Many people do not realise that their long-term sight can be affected, and that 50 per cent of sight loss is avoidable with early detection and treatment. Everyone should have their eyes tested every two years. If you have diabetes or a family history of glaucoma, you should have a test every year.

Losing your sight impacts on every area of your life. It is the sense that the majority of people are most afraid of losing. I’m now going to speak a little about the different things that blind and partially sighted people experience in their day-to-day lives, and how policymakers can make this better for those living with sight loss.

If you’re unable to drive, your only choice is to use public transport, something that can be difficult for many reasons, not least because information at bus stops is often not provided in the most accessible formats. In 2015, the Royal National Institute of Blind People Cymru and Guide Dogs research for ‘Get on board’ found there were many issues blind and partially sighted people faced when accessing public transport: incidents such as rudeness to partially sighted passengers who mistakenly pulled over the wrong bus, because it was too difficult to make out the number in time. Often, a blind or partially sighted person will learn a route to enable them to live independently. If they’re not helped to find their stop, or if audio announcements are turned off, people can very easily end up in the wrong place and may no longer be able to travel independently at all. In rural areas, information at bus stops is often out of date or too small or weather-beaten. Rural bus services are integral to blind and partially sighted people who cannot drive. Funding for these services must be protected.

New developments are not always sympathetic to the needs of people with sight loss. A building with lovely glass ceilings may be in vogue at the time, but this can cause problems for people with sight impairment as the light can cause difficulties for the eyes understanding the route to take through the building. This is a very scary and also unsafe situation for someone with a visual impairment. The redevelopment of Aberystwyth bus station a couple of years ago meant you had to cross the path of a potentially oncoming bus to enter the station, with no helpful tactile paving, and it was incredibly unsafe. This has now, thankfully, been rectified, but there must be more understanding at the outset of the principles of safe design in the upcoming planning and policy developments.

Many people associate going blind with old age, but the reality is that many people are born with sight impairment. Of the 106,000 people in Wales living with sight loss, there are an estimated 1,935 children and young people aged between 0 and 25 years. Children with a visual impairment are at risk of poor outcomes, as 80 per cent of learning is visual for children who have full sight, which is why children born with any sight impairment need understanding of the additional support and adjustments needed to ensure that they have the same access to education as their sighted peers.

As children with a visual impairment learn differently, it’s vital that specialist teachers who understand this are able to support teachers and learners. Research undertaken by RNIB Cymru has shown that the number of teachers holding the teaching qualification for this speciality has been decreasing as teachers get closer to retirement age and are not replaced. The qualification for teaching children with a visual impairment has been made mandatory in England. The only university that currently provides the course in the UK is in England and is oversubscribed, so Welsh teachers are not given priority to access that course. It’s also vital that school inspection regimes monitor the provision of specialist support across Wales.

We’re about to enter an important time in the development of additional learning needs policy in Wales, and this is the time when we can really make a difference to visually impaired learners. The additional learning needs Bill must ensure mandatory specialist learning training for staff teaching blind and partially sighted young people.

If I can turn to health, as most sight loss conditions are degenerative but also treatable, and in some cases blindness is preventable, it’s important that ophthalmic patients are reviewed within the NHS within a clinically-led timeframe that doesn’t just focus on the first appointment but that the patient’s full treatment is monitored, with follow-up treatments built in. At present, the referral-to-treatment time target only focuses on the initial diagnosis and first treatment. There’s no target for follow-up eye appointments and therefore the risk to the patient cannot be adequately managed. This is why an RTT target that does not focus on the clinical time frame is potentially damaging, as it drives attention and resources away from ensuring timely follow-up appointments.

The fact is, improved outcomes in ophthalmology will lead to better health outcomes overall and achieve savings. For example, almost half of all falls experienced by blind and partially sighted people were found to be attributable to their sight loss. Blind and partially sighted people also need timely access to rehabilitation services. If the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014’s primary aims are to be realised, then blind and partially sighted people must be assessed by trained and experienced professionals. A specialist assessment will also mean that blind and partially sighted people will know what support they need.

Charities in the sight loss sector are increasingly concerned about the provision of rehabilitation for visually impaired people. They believe the commissioning process should guarantee qualified rehabilitation officers are employed in local authorities. The minimum coverage recommended is at least one rehabilitation officer per 70,000 of the population. Now, I’m not saying that that’s not being achieved, but, currently, local authorities, whilst being asked to do more with less increasingly, are attempting to provide the minimum service for their population and not carrying out sufficient equality impact assessments to ensure that the more complex needs of someone who is losing their sight are met.

Eye clinic liaison officers are also in each health board across Wales, offering support to people with sight loss at the point of need. They’re recognised by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists as an integral part of a minimum service team within the eye clinic. Without the right support, the impact of sight loss can have a major effect on other areas of a person’s life, such as falls, isolation, and on the ability to stay in work. In an RNIB published study carried out at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, it was found, using social-return-on-investment methodology, that an investment of £1 in the early intervention service brings a return of £10.57 to health and social care budgets in Wales, so there are real savings to be made.

Finally, England has only just launched standards for accessible information for people with sensory loss in the NHS. This is over two years behind Wales, so we’ve really made progress here. However, with people with sight loss in Wales still facing major barriers to their healthcare, more needs to be done. They’re still leaving hospital every day unsure of how much medication they are meant to take, or unsure of what advice they have been given. In the hospital setting, simple actions such as a change in the colour of materials so that there’s a greater contrast between food and plates, or beds and wards, toilets and floors—the list goes on—would stop patients from going hungry, losing their way or taking a fall; simple changes, but changes that can have a real effect. The standard in England contains penalties for services that do not ensure that people with sensory loss receive information in the format they need. Is it time that we in Wales think about applying this sort of regulation to our standards? Perhaps the Welsh Government’s annual report on the public sector equality duty should focus more on these types of duties.

So, in closing, Deputy Presiding Officer, I would ask you all to think about the issues affecting people with sight loss in Wales during this National Eye Health Week. Attend one of the events if you can, and let’s all of us do our bit to raise awareness of this issue and to try and improve the standard of living of visually impaired people living in Wales today and tomorrow.