On Wednesday 10 November at County Hall in London RNIB held the ‘See the Future Differently’ summit bringing a number of key people from across health care and the sight loss sector together to talk about the future of eye care and support for blind and partially sighted people.

During the summit there were three main discussion streams focusing on:

No Diagnosis Without Support - examining the challenges of ensuring patients get the help they need at national and regional levels

Mental Health and Wellbeing - exploring the link between physical and mental health

And finally Prevention, Cures and Treatments - focusing on the latest research and the ways of turning innovation into patient applications.

Connect Radio’s Toby Davey was at the ‘See the Future Differently’ summit catching up with some of the key speakers and delegates and Toby caught up with Tom Wright CBE, Guide Dogs Chief Executive.

Tom began by explaining to Toby why Guide Dogs were attending the summit and why they were sponsoring the stream group on mental health and wellbeing. 

Tom talked about how the Covid pandemic had affected the health and well being of visually impaired people, the impact of the pandemic on the training of Guide Dog from puppy raising to Guide Dog training, waiting lists and how they are working hard to bring waiting lists down to pre pandemic levels. toby and Tom also discussed how Guide Dogs have been investing in facilities, Guide Dog breeding and training more staff too.

To find out more about Guide dogs and all their services do visit their website - https://www.guidedogs.org.uk

More information about the outcomes of the ‘See the Future Differently’ summit will be posted on the RNIB website in the coming weeks. 

(Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)