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A pilot project showing how low vision services can be made accessible to vulnerable people has been put under the spotlight at 199 Gloucester Terrace.

The pilot was one of eight eye care pathway trials funded by the Department of Health.

Liz Frost, optometric adviser for Sutton, Merton & Wandsworth PCT and Fran Hibbert of the Merton Guardian Centre described their experiences over the past 18 months to an audience of optical bodies.

The pair said they were delighted to be able to share their learning with a wider audience and raise the profile of the Merton project.
They hoped that the success they had had with patients locally could be replicated elsewhere in the country.

Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians chief executive David Hewlett said: ‘Some of us have been visiting the pilots and we wanted to showcase them and give them a higher profile so the rest of  the profession can see what is going on and learn from their experience.’

Dawn Roberts, chair of the seminar said: ‘You can get so much more across in a face to face discussion than you can from reading dry and dusty papers.’

The results from all eight trials will be presented in York next January.

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