Nicola Sturgeon opens specialist centre 

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, highlighted the issue of sight loss when she opened a specialist home in Paisley this week.

The new care home, Jenny’s Wall, is run by Scotland’s largest vision impairment charity, Royal Blind. It is the second centre of its kind run by Royal Blind, which also has a facility in Edinburgh.

The centre is designed to specifically meet the needs of visually impaired older people. It features a sensory garden, specialist lighting to reduce glare, tactile signage and specialist equipment.

While currently statistics show that around 188,000 people living in Scotland have significant sight loss, and an estimated 75% of them are over 65.

Speaking about the support of the Scottish Government to tackle this problem, Ms Sturgeon said: “Through our See Hear strategy, we are taking action to improve services, care and support for people in Scotland with sight loss, supported by almost £500,000 funding in the current year.

“The strategy recognises the impact of blindness on people’s lives and I commend Royal Blind of their work in the area, as signalled by the opening of Jenny’s Wall.”

Moving into Jenny’s Wall as its first resident, 98-year-old Josie Lewis said: “In the last few years my health has let me down and I’ve needed to stay in care homes as I have macular degeneration, hearing difficulties, a heart condition and diabetes. Moving into a care home with expertise in sight loss has made a big difference to my care and I am very happy here.”