Mr. Aaron Mullaniff:

I am conscious of the time. Regarding the rebrand, the consistent feedback to us as the National Council for the Blind of Ireland had to do with the stigma associated with the word “blind” and what went on in the national council. By shifting to the title “Vision Ireland”, we have tried to bake in a much more accessible organisation and target those who are at risk of vision impairment and those who have recognised vision impairments but do not like the stigma or the stereotype of coming forward. Believe it or not, that people are now coming through our door tells us that rebranding was the right move. We are seeing a significant number of people with hidden disabilities, including sensory impairments, for example, intellectual disabilities. So far, so good with the rebranding and the feedback has been positive, but I understand people’s concerns about charities investing in rebranding and the dilemma of what should go towards the front line and what should go towards trying to be a much more accessible organisation. There is always a trade-off.

In 2021 and 2022 in particular, Covid drove the waiting list to approximately 49,000 people. Currently, there are approximately 50 on the specialist ophthalmology waiting list. The surgeries are at the very top, but some of the initiatives – the enhanced community care programme and the roll-out of the primary eye care teams or, as they are now called, the integrated eye care teams – have had an impact. The likes of the hub-and-spoke models that have been set up at Citywest have done a good job, with a particular focus on children. That low-end work is being taken away from consultant ophthalmologists, who are professionals working at the top of their grade. It is great to see. The north east region integrated eye care system, NERIECS, which appeared before the committee previously, is another wonderful initiative that has been eliminating waiting lists by taking control of the governance via a virtual accountable care organisation, VACO, through which it brings the governance of six CHOs, ourselves as the rehab provider, the Ireland East Hospital Group, the Mater hospital and the eye and ear hospital together. It is having terrific results. We need more of that to be mapped out with a view to the opportunities that exist with the regional health areas.

Regarding the clinical lead issue, there has not been a large amount. It is on our shoulders to take that up. We have been developing the relationship with the Irish College of Ophthalmologists, and that has been going well so far.