RNIB supporting blind and partially sighted people
Research briefing
Research briefing
The role of Eye Clinic Liaison Officers
April 2011
1. Introduction
The Eye Clinic Liaison Officer (ECLO) was established to provide
information about eye conditions and services plus emotional
support within an eye clinic setting. Although the need for this kind
of support at the time of diagnosis has long been recognised,
research is required to understand more about the ECLO role in
particular. In 2009 RNIB commissioned researchers at City
University, London to conduct an investigation to ascertain the
need for the ECLO role, the cost implications of the role and the
impact on quality of life and adaptation to vision loss in people who
are blind and partially sighted. The fieldwork commenced in May
2009 and was completed in December 2010.
2. Method
The project was divided into several different studies so that an
evidence base could be built using information gathered from
patients, eye care professionals such as Ophthalmologists and
Optometrists and ECLOs themselves. The components of the
research comprised: a survey of 84 clinical and 56 rehabilitation
staff on services for blind and partially sighted people and their
views on ECLOs; in-depth semi structured interviews with 2
Optometrists, 2 Ophthalmologists and 4 ECLO's; a survey of 23
ECLOs; 11 ECLO diary analysis; and questionnaires to ascertain
quality of life and adaptation to vision loss in 10 patients with and
17 patients without access to an ECLO.
3. Key findings from the research
3.1 ECLOs are providing essential services that are currently
missing from eye clinics in the UK.
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More than 80% of eye care professionals agreed that emotional
and family support are essential services for blind and partially
sighted people despite the fact that this type of support was not
always available in their clinic. ECLOs provide emotional and
family support to patients on a regular basis.
ECLOs provide additional services in eye clinics, which the
patients may not have access to in the absence of an ECLO, and
56% of clinical staff who had worked with ECLOs felt that this
reduced the time that they would spend with patients.
3.2 Cost of an ECLO per patient contact is £17.95
The average annual cost of employing an ECLO is £38,170 pro
rata. The cost of an ECLO per patient per contact is £17.95,
assuming an average of 9 patients are seen per day, in a 42 week
year.
3.3 ECLO's significantly improve the patient experience
A large proportion of eye care professionals (90% of clinical staff
and 63% rehabilitation officers) said that ECLOs significantly
improve the patient experience. Most clinical staff (77%) reported
that they felt more comfortable when patients left their room if they
knew that they had the support of an ECLO.
This research was unable to establish a link between ECLO's with
quality of life of blind and partially sighted people. This may have
been because the questionnaires chosen were not sensitive
enough, because the sample size was too small or the effects of
the intervention were measured too late.
3.4 A lack of standardisation of the ECLO role leads to
confusion over the services that ECLOs provide
Some ECLOs are well known within their departments, conversely,
a number of clinicians were unsure whether their hospital
employed an ECLO or not. Some ECLOs obtain patients through
referrals from clinicians in the hospital, others obtain patients from
waiting areas or use a combination of both approaches.
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In cases where the ECLO service is not well integrated into the
hospital system this has resulted in confusion over which services
they do and do not provide and lack of awareness of where they
are employed. There was also evidence of under valuing the role,
in that some ECLOs do not have access to hospital records or a
manager within the hospital. Indeed almost half of those surveyed
did not have a computer, one third lacked any storage space and a
quarter had neither a telephone nor a private room in which to talk
to patients. Given that a large part of the ECLOs job involves
making referrals and listening to patients in a confidential manner it
is important that they are provided with adequate facilities to
perform their role.
In summary
ECLOs provide services, such as information and emotional
support to patients and families which are currently missing in eye
clinics in the UK.
These services are regarded as essential by eye care
professionals.
The lack of standardisation in the current ECLO role is likely to
prevent it developing to its full potential; this variability needs to be
addressed.
For more information visit rnib.org.uk/research
© RNIB, 2011
Registered charity number 226227
RNIB Evidence and Service Impact
Registered charity number 226227