New RNIB training launched at parliament

Labour MP Marsha de Cordova hosted the RNIB at parliament on Wednesday (17 June) for the launch of a new training programme focused on providing emotional support to individuals with sight loss at the point of diagnosis.

De Cordova, who has nystagmus, highlighted the value of the training in shaping an influential moment in someone’s life.

“A diagnosis is truly life-changing, and it can profoundly affect an individual’s mental health,” she said,

“The way those early conversations are handled matters enormously,” de Cordova emphasised.

She noted that the training demonstrates the importance of holistic care.

“It supports clinicians in building empathetic, understanding relationships with patients, and these relationships go beyond the condition itself – recognising the wider effect on someone's life. Emotional support is integral, not optional,” de Cordova observed.

RNIB chief engagement officer, Nina Walker, noted that RNIB research has revealed the long-lasting effect of the way a diagnosis is delivered.

“People consistently tell us that the way that this news is delivered has a lasting effect on their ability to move forward, adapt to change, and navigate their way towards a good quality of life after diagnosis,” she said.

A diagnosis is truly life-changing, and it can profoundly affect an individual’s mental health. The way those early conversations are handled matters enormously

In response to this evidence, RNIB has developed training that aims to support clinicians and services in recognising the emotional and psychological effect of a diagnosis, and ensuring that a diagnosis is delivered with care, empathy and compassion.

“Crucially, it also helps professionals to offer a sense of hope and direction by signposting people to what can help beyond that moment in time, so that people are better supported to adjust and to begin to rebuild their lives,” Walker shared.

As part of a video played at the parliamentary reception, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital consultant ophthalmologist, Tariq Aslam, explained that he became interested in the hidden effects of sight loss after an experience with a patient who he had been treating for around five years.

“Every time I saw her, she would bounce into the room and ask me how I was doing. We'd treat her, and her vision had actually improved reasonably well,” he recalled.

“As part of a research trial, there was an incidental questionnaire that asked her about her wellbeing, and I was shocked to find out from that incidental questionnaire she was actually in severe clinical depression,” Aslam reflected.

After this experience prompted Aslam to conduct research exploring the issue, he found that this interaction was part of a broader issue.

Speaking at the parliamentary launch event, Aslam reflected that the initial patient encounter prompted him to acknowledge a shortfall in his own practice.

“I realised that just looking at the scans and making sure the scans were okay wasn't doing what I intended to do when I went into medicine,” he said.

Aslam highlighted that the medical community is beginning to recognise the importance of how the moment of diagnosis is handled for those with sight loss.

“Doctors are beginning to appreciate that this is something that they can do for their patients in a few minutes that can dramatically influence how that patient walks out and how that patient feels,” he said.

RNIB chair, Anna Tylor, noted that clinicians, including optometrists, can play an influential role in a person’s life.

“Often when you’re giving a diagnosis, you’re setting a tone for everything that comes next, and that’s an enormous responsibility, and one that requires not only clinical expertise, but humanity, judgment, and care,” she emphasised.

She reflected that many people will retain only a fraction of what is said when a diagnosis is delivered.

“What they will probably remember forever is how you made them feel,” Tylor said.