Press release: Sense receives £170,000 grant to showcase support for older people
22 March 2013
National deafblind charity Sense is to receive almost £170,000 in funding to showcase their work on how early recognition of sight and hearing loss can improve the lives of older people.
Funded by the Department of Health’s Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development (ISED) fund, this two-year project will share Sense’s knowledge about age-related sight and hearing loss with health and social care professionals.
It will enable Sense to provide specific advice and support to key organisations, including local authorities, the Care Quality Commission and Clinical Commissioning Groups.
The funding will also be used to promote Sense’s early recognition screening tool and training to residential care homes in England. The tool identifies residents with both hearing and sight loss and involves a three part assessment of the resident’s sight and hearing. This includes questions related to everyday functioning that is possibly affected by hearing and sight loss.
Early identification often prevents problems and difficulties exacerbating, and reduces the negative impact that this has upon the quality of life and wellbeing, for both deafblind people and their family or carers. Simple strategies to help people with dual sensory impairment can include a loop hearing system, large print newspapers and different coloured plates.
Sense Chief Executive Gillian Morbey said: “Older people and their families do not always recognise that the problems they are experiencing are due to sight and hearing loss. Without the right support, losing your sight and finding it increasingly hard to hear things can have a devastating effect on every part of an older persons life. We want to make sure that health and care professionals and families spot the signs of dual sensory loss and realise that many of the solutions are simple, inexpensive and make a real difference. We are delighted to receive this funding from the Department of Health and hope to share our learning across other organisations.
“We will be talking with communities whose older family members live with them and want to make sure that the information we provide on spotting sight and hearing loss is easy to find, appropriate and takes into account the different social and cultural approaches to caring for older people within our diverse communities.”
Voluntary sector organisations were required to submit funding bids to the Department of Health setting out how they could help meet the Department’s objectives of better health and wellbeing, and how their proposal has potential for national impact.
For media enquiries contact the Sense press office on 0845 127 0060.