Eye Clinic Liaison Officers (ECLO’s)
Eye Clinic Liaison Officers (ECLOs) work closely with medical and nursing staff in the eye clinic, and the sensory team in social services. They provide those recently diagnosed with an eye condition with the practical and emotional support which they need to understand their diagnosis, deal with their sight loss and maintain their independence.
Being diagnosed with an eye condition can be difficult to come to terms with, and everyone reacts differently. It can be an extremely confusing and uncertain time and in many cases emotionally traumatic.
- People with sight loss are three times more likely to suffer depression.
- A survey of registered individuals revealed that after diagnosis 92 per cent of blind and partially sighted people were not offered formal counselling by the eye clinic, either at the time or later.
- Nearly a quarter of blind and partially sighted people (23 per cent) leave the eye clinic not knowing, or unsure of, the name or nature of their eye condition.
ECLOs have the time to dedicate to patients following consultation with an ophthalmologist, so that they can discuss the impact the condition may have on their life.
Eye Clinic Liaison Officer’s (ECLO’s) are based at both Pinderfields Hospital and at Pontefract General Infirmary.
The ECLO at Pinderfields Hospital can be contacted on:
Tel: 01924 541214
Ophthalmology Outpatients (Gate 27)
New Pinderfields Hospital
Wakefield
WF1 4EE
The ECLO at Pontefract Hospital can be contacted on:
Tel Mob: 07540677014
The Sensory Impairment Team
1st Floor Civic Centre
Ferrybridge Road
Castleford
WF10 4JH