24 September 2025
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) celebrated the launch of an eye clinic liaison officer (ECLO) service in Hertfordshire and West Essex with an event at Stevenage’s Lister Hospital on Wednesday 17 September.
The ECLO service has been running since March 2025 and is commissioned by Herts and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB).
It sees ECLOs installed at three hospital trusts: Nicki Heritage at Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust, Lynda Daddario at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, and James Treadwell at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust.
Jacqueline Price, RNIB partnership and development manager, told OT that ECLO services already existed in Essex and Cambridge and at Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Bedfordshire, leaving the area served by Herts and West Essex ICB as an “island [with a] of lack of support.”
The aim of the new service is for ECLOs to be involved early in the patient journey, in order to improve their emotional wellbeing – something that is especially vital when waiting lists for eye care remain long, Price said.
Speaking at the event, RNIB ECLO service manager, Georgia Scanlan, revealed that patients’ awareness of the support they are entitled to increases from 18% to 90% after they have spoken to an ECLO.
Speaking to OT, Scanlan described the ECLO service as a “holistic needs, risk-based assessment.”
Attendees also heard from Lynda Daddario, the newly-employed ECLO at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.
Daddario explained her own experiences of sight loss after a diagnosis of myopic neovascularization at the age of 38, when she had two young children and was working full-time in a special needs school.
Her desire is to help people who are now sat where she once was, Daddario said.
“I want to be able to ensure that people with visual impairments get the guidance they want and need,” she said.
The RNIB’s ECLO service in numbers
96%
of clinic staff believe that ECLOs improve patient experience
90%
the percentage of patients who are aware of the services available to them after speaking to an ECLO
270
clinical locations across the UK that are served by ECLOs
The expansion of its ECLO service is part of the RNIB’s mission to ensure that every person diagnosed with sight loss, whether in primary or secondary care, has access to the practical and emotional support they need.
ECLOs are a cornerstone of the charity’s Eye Care Support Pathway, which was launched in 2024.
Usually based within hospitals, they exist to provide those recently diagnosed with sight loss with emotional support, guidance in accessing counselling and advice services, and help with assistive technology. They also offer help with claiming benefits and finding and remaining in employment.
In the coming years, the RNIB aims to have an ECLO at every major NHS eye clinic in the UK. As of 2025, there are 134 RNIB ECLOs working in the UK, as well as 60 provided by other organisations.
The addition of three new ECLOs in Hertfordshire and West Essex means that the service is now comprehensive across the ICB area, the RNIB said.
Price noted that it is the first time the RNIB has developed an ECLO service across an entire ICB area.
She called the creation of the service a “landmark moment” during her speech to attendees.
“What is especially exciting is that today isn’t just the culmination of years of working together and laying the foundations, but it’s the beginning of a new chapter – one where eye care patients in Hertfordshire and West Essex receive the support that they deserve from the first moment that they need it,” Price said.
She added: “We now have the opportunity to ensure that support and information are available from the very first moment that someone notices a change in their vision, through their clinical journey and into life with sight loss.
“I’m confident that the spirit of partnership and collaboration that brought us all here will continue to drive this work forward.”
The ECLO service is aligned to the Government’s preventative and community health principles, Price told OT.
Kavita Kathuria, a specialist optometrist at Lister Hospital who works with Daddario in the low vision service, noted the value that the ECLO service has for the trust, including helping with the certification of visual impairment so patients can access support more quickly.
“The work that the ECLOs do is invaluable,” she said.
Speaking to OT, she added: “The main advantage for the patients is that they get support from the point of their diagnosis. They had support before, but it wasn’t from the start of their diagnosis and all the way through.
“Now that we have an ECLO here every day, we can provide more practical and emotional support. Because Lynda does the non-clinical side of things, it frees up clinical time for staff so they can spend more time doing their clinical duties.”
It is important for optometrists in the local area to know that the ECLO service now exists and that they can refer patients via email, Kathuria said.
She also noted that carers and partners of patients can benefit from the ECLO service, and that they can be referred into it too.
RNIB celebrates launch of ECLO service in Hertfordshire and West Essex
A team effort
Scanlan explained that the RNIB’s partnership development team works closely with ICBs across the country, raising the profile of the work the RNIB is doing and emphasising how this aligns with the 10-Year Health Plan.
“Having an ECLO service means person-led care,” Scanlan said. “It is a better patient experience; it leads to better patient outcomes.”
She added: “We’re working with the ICBs to raise the profile of ECLOs, and to improve the patient experience within this kind of healthcare.”
The ECLO service might now be up and running, but the work continues, Scanlan told OT.
“It’s about making sure patients know that the support is out there. Do they know that the hospital has got an ECLO, and how do we promote the service? How do we make it accessible?” she said.
Uche Anumadu, senior commissioning manager at Herts and West Essex ICB, told OT that the ICB commissioned the ECLO service because it aligns with the Government’s preventative healthcare agenda.
“The direction of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan is collaborative working,” Anumadu said.
He added: “The ECLO service brings the voluntary sector, health commissioners, Herts County Council, and the hospital trust together, forming an integrated care team to look at how we can support patients. Having this provision is a clear example of that pathway.”
Communication has been integral to the ECLO service being commissioned, Anumadu noted.
He explained that local sensory services were also involved in integration once recruitment for the ECLOs had taken place.
A monthly meeting, attended by the ICB and representatives from Hertfordshire and Essex local optical committees, has allowed both sides to raise ideas or concerns throughout the process, Anumadu said.
“It has been a journey. We didn’t start this today – we've come a long way,” he told OT.
Lead image: Georgia Scanlan, RNIB ECLO service manager, with Lynda Daddario and Nicki Heritage, RNIB ECLOs
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