Minister visits veterans at Linburn Centre
West Lothian’s Scottish War Blinded’s Linburn Centre welcomed the Scottish Veterans Minister recently.
Veterans Minister Graeme Dey joined MSP for Almond Valley Angela Constance visited the centre in Wilkieston to celebrate new guidelines aimed at protecting blind and partially sighted veterans.
The visit followed the recent announcement by the Scottish Government that during the process of applying for a Certificate of Vision Impairment, people will now be asked if they have ever served in the armed forces.
Thereafter those responsible for registering people for a Certificate of Vision Impairment will be tasked with signposting veterans to the free services and support provided by Scottish War Blinded.
Angela Constance MSP first raised this matter in the Scottish Parliament.
She said: “In West Lothian, we are very proud of the Scottish War Blinded and the excellent work they do to support veterans and it’s good to once again welcome the Veterans Minister to the Linburn Centre in Wilkieston.
“I am delighted with the Minister’s response to my parliamentary question and that there is now a clear commitment and process that identifies and refers veterans to the Scottish War Centre services when they register their visual impairment.
“This is a big step forward in ensuring that our veterans receive the right support at the right time. The range of support and supply of specialists equipment available at the Scottish War Blinded is second to none.”
Scottish War Blinded provides individually tailored support for exservicemen and women who have sight loss, aiming to restore independence through specialist information, advice and equipment.
The charity offers free support to any veteran living with sight loss that impacts on their independence, whether they lost their sight during service or subsequently through conditions such as glaucoma or macular degeneration. The Linburn Centre celebrated its 75th anniversary last year.
Veterans Minister Graeme Dey said: “Practitioners will now be able to highlight the new signposting in the patient guidance that accompanies the CVI process to Scottish War Blinded. This signposting will help veterans access the additional support they may need and will ensure they are not disadvantaged by their service or the circumstances they find themselves in because of this.”
Mark O’Donnell, chief executive of Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded, said: “Support from our charity can be life changing for veterans with sight loss. We do all we can to encourage referrals to our services, but we still find a number of veterans are not being made aware of our support as quickly as they could be. This initiative will help ensure more veterans can benefit more quickly from our support in the future.”