Due to the Coronavirus the Board of Trustees of NVS have voted to cancel the 2020 AGM which was scheduled to take place in July.

Further details can be found on the letter which all our service users should have received by post. If you have not received a letter and would like a copy then please contact the office on 0191 232 7292. Due to the current situation staff will only be in the office on Tuesday and Thursday 11am – 3pm for telephone enquiries.

I hope you are all staying safe during these challenging times.

As you know staff have been working from home, ringing members for regular chats and when possible helping with queries. They have all done a great job and on behalf of you all I would like to thank them all for their dedication and commitment to helping others.

We are now starting to move towards working from the office in line with social distancing. We will not all be in together so we will continue to work from home on the days we are not in the office.

I know many of you are wanting to get back to groups etc and are missing the social aspects which, under normal circumstances we provide. We are following Government guidelines so unfortunately we can not start up the groups at the moment, but we are looking at alternative methods to enable you to meet up virtually.

Moving forward there will be staff in the office on a Tuesday and Thursday for any queries you may have, regrettably there will be no home visits until further notice.

Take care and stay safe everyone, we are still here to support you.

Thanks Sue

Retina International are currently conducting a study that aims to bring to light the issues faced by Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (wet AMD) and Diabetes-related Macular Edema (DME) patients and their caregivers owning to routine anti-VEGF injection treatment.

They have recently launched a treatment survey and are looking for participants. If you have wet AMD or DME or you are a caregiver and you would like to participate then please click on one of the following links to complete the survey.

Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (wet AMD) Patient Survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wetAMDPatientSurvey

Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (wet AMD) Caregiver Survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wetAMDCaregiverSurvey

Diabetes-related Macular Edema (DME) Patient Survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DMEPatientSurvey

Diabetes-related Macular Edema (DME) Caregiver Survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DMECaregiverSurvey

If you would like further information regarding Retina International then please click on the following link http://retina-amd.org/

We hope everyone is coping during these unprecedented times.

At Newcastle Vision Support we are always striving to improve our services. We would appreciate it if you could help us complete 2 surveys using the links below so that we can gain valuable feedback for support and services we provide.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J2ZNV86

For those that have used our Benefits service provided by Philippa, please can you complete the following survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6BC5Y7P

Sue and all the staff would like to thank everyone for continuing to support us.

Stay safe.

Due to the current situation of the Coronavirus the office is now closed until further notice.   

If you need to contact us, We will be checking our emails from home on a regular basis. Please click on the following link for a list of all our emails https://newcastlevisionsupport.org.uk/about-us/meet-the-team/ .

We will be operating a ring around service to keep in contact with our vulnerable service users. If you need to speak to someone urgently, please call one of the following numbers:

• Sue 07958171431

• Jude 07958171424

• Jacqui 07506720593

The latest updates will be posted on our Website and our Facebook page .

Take care and stay safe.

Sue and all the staff.

Due to the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus we have made the decision to cancel all groups until further notice.

We would like to assure you that there has been no cases of the Coronavirus within Newcastle Vision Support or MEA House. This decision is purely a precaution in the interest of vulnerable members.

We are still offering telephone support if needed, please ring 0191 2327292.

This week is Falls Prevention and National Eye Health Week (Monday 23 to Sunday 29 September).

Falls Prevention

Falls can have a devastating effect on the lives of individuals and their families. Physical injury can cause permanent disability and people’s lives change as they lose their confidence and independence.

The main aim of Falls Prevention Week is to give advice on how to prevent falls and encourage people to report their falls to a GP so they can explore the reason why this has happened. It might not just be due to tripping over something, there could be an underlying health issue.

Falls represent the most frequent and serious type of accident in people aged 65 and over.

The NHS Long Term Plan highlights how falls prevention schemes, including exercise classes and strength and balance training, can significantly reduce the likelihood of falls and are cost effective in reducing admissions to hospital.

Don’t be blind to the risk of falls.

Poor vision more than doubles your risk of taking a tumble.

Not only can impaired or low vision prevent you spotting hazards it can also affect your balance – just close your eyes for a moment or two and you’ll begin to feel yourself sway; in fact, sway increases 50 per cent or more with eyes closed compared with eyes open.

Our vision steadily declines as we age so it’s no surprise that poor vision is a major contributory factor to falls in the over-60s. Around one in three adults over 65 who live at home have at least one fall a year, and about half of these will experience falls more frequently.

Falls can be distressing and impact on your quality of life. In extreme cases fall related injuries can even lead to death. More than five thousand people in the UK died as a result of a fall in 2017.

Three quarters of older people who suffer a fall as a result of poor vision had a visual impairment that was easily correctable. This could be a simple as getting a new prescription for your glasses or having cataract surgery.

Regular sight tests are important for everyone to keep your eyes and vision healthy. Sight tests are free for the over 60s as they are paid for by the NHS. If you require prescription eyewear talk to your dispensing optician about appropriate uses for your glasses. If you have more than one pair, it can sometimes be confusing deciding which pair to wear for which task. A simple coding system such as putting a red dot on your reading glasses – red for reading – could help prevent vision impairment because you’re wearing the wrong glasses.

The research service team at HMRC would love to work with you to make government websites better to make sure they are easy to use and accessible. We include accessibility at the very beginning and for that we need your help.

If you want to take part, we can visit you to test in a place that best suits you, such as the Sunderland & County Durham centre, your home, one of our local offices or even remote sessions.

You can test our prototypes on your device with your set up, to give us your feedback.

We want to work with people of all ages, ranges of digital skills and assistive technology so that our websites are accessible for everyone.

To get involved please sign up using the following link: HMRC sign up page

You can also email our team, user.experience@hmrc.gov.uk.